ry 


NORTH  CAROLINA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE,  IMMIGRATION  AND  STATISTICS, 

RALEIGH. 


S.  L.  PATTERSON,  Commissioner. 

T.  K.  BRUNER,  Secretary. 

B.  W.  KILGORE,  State  Chemist. 

FRANKLIN  SHERMAN,  Entomologist. 

GERALD  MCCARTHY  Botanist  and  Biologist. 

H.  H.  HUME,  Horticulturist. 

TAIT  BUTLER,  Veterinarian. 

H.  H.  BRIMLEY,  Curator. 


Collects  and  disseminates  information  about  the  State. 
Studies  all  phases  of  its  Agriculture  and  Horticulture. 
Issues  Monthly  Bulletin — results  of  investigations. 
Conducts  Test  Farms  in  various  parts  of  the  State. 
Controls  infectious  diseases  of  domestic  animals. 
Investigates  diseases  of  plants  and  fruit  trees. 
Conducts  Quarantine  for  suppression  of  Splenic  Fever. 
Investigates  ravages  of  insects  and  inspects  Nurseries. 
Inspects  fertilizers,  guaranteeing  protection  to  purchasers. 
Analyzes  fertilizers,  soils,  and  waters. 
Analyzes  foods,  under  Pure  Food  laws,  and  feed-stuffs. 
Identifies  specimens  of  minerals,  plants,  and  animals. 
Holds  Farmers'  Institutes. 
Maintains  a  Museum  of  Resources  and  Natural  History. 


WRITE    FOR    INFORMATION. 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


CONDITIONS  INVITING 


FARMING,  TRUCKING 
CATTLE-RAISING  AND  DAIRYING 


SOILS  AND  CLIMATE 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

RALEIGH 


B.  M 

T7ZZEt.t,  J 

t  CO. 

RA 

r.KX»H,   :X 

c. 

272218 


COTTON 

IN 

THE 
FIELD 


AND 

IN 

THE 
BALE. 


FARMING. 


North  Carolina  is  essentially  an  agricultural  State.  While  she 
has  developed  in  manufacturing  in  the  last  decade  more  than  any 
other  State  in  the  Union,  the  increase  in  this  line  having  been  over 
800  per  cent,  the  greatest  increase  is  in  cotton  manufacturing,  which 
is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  farmers  of  the  State  are  largely 
engaged  in  the  culture  of  this  staple.  To  the  large  area  in  tobacco, 
too,  is  due  the  great  development  of  the  State  in  the  manufacture  of 
tobacco,  and  her  unequalled  forests  of  hardwoods  have  tended  to  the 
building  up  of  a  great  woodworking  industry. 

Hence  we  come  back  to  the  soil  as  the  source  of  the  wealth  and 
development  of  North  Carolina.  There  is  no  State  in  the  Union, 
unless  we  except  California,  which  has  such  a  varied  series  of  crops, 
owing  to  the  great  range  of  clhnate.  Lying  largely  on  the  great 
undulating  plain  sloping  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  and  from 
the  greatest  elevation  east  of  the  Rockies  down  to  the  coast  plain  but 
little  elevated  above  the  sea-level,  North  Carolina  greets  the  rising 
sun,  and  her  climate  varies  according  to  the  elevation.  On  the  high 
plateaus  of  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  we  find  a  grass  and 
grazing  section  with  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills,  and  the  forest  growth 
of  white-pine,  hemlock,  and  fir  resembling  Canada.  Dropping  over 
the  great  escarpment  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  we  reach  the  undulating 
region  of  the  piedmont  country,  which  in  this  State  is  again  divided 
into  upper  and  lower  piedmont  by  a  range  of  hills  a  hundred  or  so 
miles  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  forming  the  falls  of  the  rivers 
with  wonderful  water-powers.  This  section  lies  in  a  series  of  roll- 
ing uplands,  intersected  by  the  rivers  with  their  fertile  bottom- 
lands and  rising  from  700  to  1,500  feet  elevation  at  the  foot  of 
the  Blue  Ridge.  East  of  the  Uwharrie  Mountains  and  the  Occo- 
neechee  Hills  there  is  still  the  same  rolling  upland  extending  east- 
ward till  it  drops  off  into  the  level  coastal  plain  which  extends 
inward  for  more  than  a  hundred  miles  from  the  ocean.  This  lower 
piedmont,  from  its  lesser  elevation,  has  a  milder  winter  climate  than 
the  upper  piedmont,  and  the  upper  piedmont  is  far  warmer  in  winter 
than  the  mountain  region  between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Great 
Smokies  that  separate  the  State  from  Tennessee.  As  we  reach  the 
lower  coast  we  find  that  instead  of  the  white-pines  and  hemlocks  of 
the  high  mountain  plateaus  and  valleys,  we  have  the  first  touch  of 
the  Floridian  vegetation  in  the  cabbage-palms  which  tower  among  the 
other  evergreen  growth  on  Smith's  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape 
Fear  River.  This  wide-stretching  area  from  the  white-pine  to  the 
palms  shows  the  wonderful  variety  of  climates  which  the  State  pos- 
sesses, and  accordingly  indicates  her  adaptation  to  the  crops  of  the 
North  and  the  South.  The  grassy  uplands  of  the  mountain  country 
2 


4.    •      '  ?:£.*  ":  FARMING. 

are  as  well  adapted  to  the  grazing  of  cattle  as  any  part  of  the  coun- 
try, while  the  abundant  food  crops  of  the  piedmont  section  offer  the 
greatest  opportunities  for  the  winter  feeding  of  these  mountain- 
raised  cattle.  Over  a  very  large  section  of  the  piedmont  and  coast 
regions  the  cotton  crop  has  long  been  the  chief  interest  of  the  farmers, 
and  when  grown  in  good  farming  there  is  no  money  crop  in  the 
United  States  that  can  equal  it  for  average  profit.  True,  it  has 
been  allowed  to  too  much  absorb  the  attention  of  the  farmers,  and 
has  been  grown  almost  as  a  sole  crop  on  too  many  farms.  But  there 
is  a  gradual  awakening  to  the  importance  of  good  farming  with  cot- 
ton, and  good  farmers  who  have  realized  the  importance  of  a  good 
rotation  of  crops  are  finding  out  the  value  of  such  a  rotation  and  are 
understanding  that  there  are  other  crops  that  can  be  grown  with 
profit  as  well  as  cotton,  and  that  through  the  aid  of  these  crops  and 
the  great  clover  of  the  South,  the  cow-pea,  they  can  grow  cotton  with 
a  greater  yield  per  acre,  and  can  get  just  as  much  cotton  on  a  smaller 
area  as  they  could  from  the  larger  under  the  old  system  of  merely 
planting  cotton. 

There  is  too  much  of  a  tendency  among  farmers  coming  here  from 
the  North  to  ignore  cotton  and  to  go  into  other  crops  to  the  exclusion 
of  cotton.  Northern  men  coming  South  are  too  apt  to  attribute  the 
worn  and  wasted  condition  of  much  of  the  upland  soil  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton,  and  they  imagine  that  cotton  is  a  very  exhaustive 
crop,  while  the  very  reverse  is  true,  for,  so  far  as  the  lint  is  concerned, 
there  is  no  crop  grown  that  draws  so  lightly  on  the  fertility  of  the 
soil  as  cotton,  and  when  the  seed  are  properly  applied  to  the  rational 
feeding  of  cattle  and  the  return  of  the  manure  to  the  soil  in  a  good 
rotation  of  crops,  there  is  no  crop  with  which  the  land  can  be  more 
rapidly  improved  than  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton.  No  good  farmer, 
coming  to  a  new  location,  can  afford  to  ignore  what  has  been  long 
proved  to  be  the  best  money  crop  of  the  section. 

The  same  remarks  will  apply  to  the  northern  counties  east  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  where  the  tobacco  crop  has  long  taken  the  place  of  cotton. 
Single  cropping  with  tobacco  is  as  bad  as  single  cropping  with  cotton, 
and  rotative  farming  and  the  improvement  of  the  land  can  be  done 
as  well  with  tobacco  as  the  money  crop  as  with  cotton. 

The  greatest  development  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  has  been 
made  in  the  coastal  plain,  .where  immense  areas  are  now  devoted  to 
the  production  of  early  vegetable  crops  for  the  Northern  market  and 
the  growing  of  strawberries  and  other  small  fruits.  The  truckers  of 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State  are  the  most  progressive  cultivators  we 
have,  and  they  are  annually  improving  their  production  and  adopting 
intensive  methods  with  protection  and  artificial  heat  during  the  win- 
ter months  for  the  production  of  crops  ahead  of  the  natural  season. 
With  a  soil  unsurpassed  for  the  purpose  and  a  climate  that  makes  it 
easy  to  produce  extra  early  crops,  the  business  has  prospered  and  is 
increasing  annually.  But  there  is  room  in  all  parts  of  the  State  for 


FARMING.  5 

the  general  farmer  in  wheat,  oats,  grasses  and  cattle,  and  for  the 
fruit-grower  in  the  long-leaf  pine  country  who  washes  to  grow 
peaches  on  a  large  scale,  while  the  mountain  country  is  destined  to 
be  soon  recognized  as  the  greatest  apple  section  of  the  United  States. 
In  the  following  pages  we  will  treat  of  the  various  crops  and  the 
regions  of  the  State  best  suited  to  them. 

WHEAT. 

The  soil  surveys  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  Washington 
have  demonstrated  that  our  upland  red-clay  soils  are  practically 
identical  with  the  best  wheat  soils  in  the  country.  They  call  the  red- 
clay  "Cecil  Clay,"  from  the  fact  that  they  first  met  with  it  in  the 
northern  part  of  Cecil  County  in  Maryland,  where  on  it  the  finest 
crops  of  wheat  and  grass  produced  in  this  country  are  grown.  Cecil 
County  hay  is  the  standard  hay  in  the  Baltimore  market.  That  this 
red  clay  here  is  capable  of  making  as  good  crops  of  wheat  here  as  in 
Maryland  has  been  abundantly  proved,  though  the  general  neglect  of 
wheat  for  exclusive  cotton  growing  has  led  people  to  think  that  wheat 
is  hardly  worth  attention  as  a  sale  crop.  This  impression  is  due, 
not  to  the  land,  but  to  the  kind  of  farming  that  has  been  done.  All  the 
rolling  uplands  of  the  piedmont  section  (and  this  means  the  greater 
part  of  the  State)  are  admirably  adapted  to  wheat  growing,  clover, 
and  the  feeding  of  cattle.  One  Ohio  farmer  who  came  to  the  pied- 
mont country  from  the  blue-grass,  said  recently  that  he  has  better 
summer  pasture  here  than  in  Ohio,  since  the  blue-grass  dries  up  in 
the  summer  heat,  while  here  the  natural  growth  of  the  Japan  clover, 
that  has  spread  all  over  the  piedmont  country,  is  at  its  best  in 
the  hot  summer  weather,  and  cattle  thrive  on  it  as  they  do  not  on  the 
blue-grass  at  that  season.  This  man  is  a  large  breeder  of  the  Polled 
Angus  cattle,  and  is  well  satisfied  with  his  change.  With  a  rotation 
consisting  of  corn,  with  all  the  home-made  manure,  followed  by 
wheat,  with  simply  a  good  application  of  the  cheap  acid  phosphate, 
and  the  wheat  followed  at  once  with  a  crop  of  cow-peas  for  hay  and 
the  pea  stubble  prepared  for  cotton  the  next  season,  with  a  liberal 
application  of  fertilizer,  and  crimson  clover  sown  among  the  cotton, 
the  soil  will  rapidly  improve,  for  then  there  will  be  a  clover  sod  to 
plow  under  with  the  manure  for  the  corn  and  the  land  will  be  in  the 
best  possible  condition  for  the  following  wheat  crop,  and  the  peas 
after  the  wheat  will  not  only  give  a  large  amount  of  valuable  feed 
for  stock,  but  the  stubble  will  be  the  best  possible  preparation  for  the 
cotton  crop.  We  know  of  one  farmer,  who  is  not  in  the  best  wheat 
section,  but  in  the  best  cotton  section,  who  has  been  practising  this 
mode  of  farming,  and  last  season  (1904)  he  made  100  bales  of  cot- 
ton on  50  acres.  Even  at  the  price  for  cotton  as  we  now  write  (about 
seven  and  a  half  cents  per  pound),  what  money  crop  can  compare 
with  cotton  when  produced  in  this  way,  for  the  value  of  the  seed 


6  FARMING. 

will  largely  increase  the  value  of  the  1,000  pounds  of  cotton  per  acre, 
while  the  auxiliary  crops  of  wheat,  oats,  and  hay  leave  the  cotton  crop 
almost  a  free  money  crop.  Wheat,  therefore,  should  always  enter 
into  the  rotation  of  a  farm  in  the  red-clay  uplands  of  the  piedmont 
section.  In  this  same  section  there  are  broad  river  bottom-lands, 
such  as  those  along  the  Yadkin  and  Catawba  rivers,  which  have 
been  for  generations  carelessly  cultivated  in  corn  only,  but  are  among 
the  best  of  wheat  lands  and  can  well  be  taken  into  the  rotation  sug- 
gested, and  from  their  great  natural  fertility  can  soon  be  made  to 
produce  immense  crops.  In  the  years  before  the  Civil  War  the  white 
wheat  of  North  Carolina  was  famous  and  the  States  north  of  us — as 
far  north  as  Maryland — were  in  the  habit  of  sending  here  for  seed 
wheat.  Since  the  war  the  exclusive  devotion  to  cotton  as  the  only 
means  for  recovering  the  losses  of  the  war  has  led  to  the  neglect  of 
the  wheat  crop.  But  the  piedmont  soils  are  naturally  as  well  adapted 
to  it  as  ever,,  and  it  only  needs  good  rotative  farming  to  demonstrate 
their  capacity.  While  the  coastal  plain,  with  its  lighter  soils,  is  not 
so  well  adapted  to  wheat  as  the  piedmont  country,  nevertheless  good 
farmers  have  made  fine  crops  of  wheat  in  that  section  on  the  heavier 
soils.  A  few  years  ago  Mr.  Daughtridge  of  Edgecombe  County,  after 
harvesting  a  good  crop  of  cotton,  sowed  wheat  on  the  cotton  land  and 
made  a  crop  of  more  than  30  bushels  per  acre.  This  would  not  be 
considered  a  poor  crop  by  any  means  in  the  best  wheat-growing  sec- 
tions of  Maryland,  where  wheat  is  the  main  money  crop.  But  in 
the  coastal  plain  and  on  the  lighter  soil  the  crop  that  can  more  profita- 
bly take  the  place  of  wheat  is 

WINTER  OATS. 

From  Pennsylvania  southward  there  is  no  crop  more  uncertain 
than  the  spring-sown  crop  of  oats,  and  in  the  South  it  is  uniformly 
of  little  value,  since  the  heat  of  summer  strikes  it  before  maturity 
and  the  grain  is  small  and  light.  But  with  winter  oats  the  case  is 
different.  They  make  their  growth  during  the  cool  season  of  the  year 
and  mature  before  the  hottest  weather  comes,  and  thus  they  keep  up 
to  and  often  above  the  standard  weight  per  bushel,  and  under  good 
culture  yield  large  crops.  Crops  of  60  to  75  bushels  per  acre  have 
been  grown  under  good  rotation  conditions.  While  winter  oats  can 
be  grown  all  over  the  piedmont  country,  wheat  is  there  far  more  cer- 
tain and  profitable.  But  in  the  coast  plain  the  reverse  is  true,  and  the 
oats  should  more  generally  be  grown,  except  where  soil  conditions 
especially  favor  the  wheat.  The  turning  under  of  a  crop  of  crimson 
clover  on  which  the  manure  of  the  farm  has  been  spread  broadcast 
for  corn,  and  the  subsequent  culture  of  the  corn  crop,  makes  the  best 
possible  preparation  for  the  crop  of  winter  oats.  Early  sowing  is  of 
great  importance  with  this  crop,  and  as  the  early  planted  corn  can 
be  cut  easily  here  by  the  last  of  August  and  put  into  shock-rows,  the 


FARMING.  7 

land  can  be  disked  and  prepared  so  that  the  oats  can  go  into  the 
ground  early  in  September.  Sown  at  this  time,  they  get  well  started 
and  tillered  before  winter  and  will  make  in  all  the  coast  plain  an 
abundant  crop  under  good  farming,  and  at  the  usual  price  for  oats  in 
the  South  will  be  found  to  be  a  profitable  crop.  As  in  the  case  of 
wheat,  the  land  can  at  once  be  sown  after  harvest  with  cow-peas  for 
hay  and  a  crop  of  the  finest  hay  for  stock  produced.  Then  if  the 
acid  phosphate  and  potash  have  been  applied  to  the  pea  crop  this  crop 
will  not  only  be  largely  increased,  but  will  store  still  more  fertility  in 
the  soil  for  the  following  crop  of  cotton,  which  in  this  case  will  need 
only  a  similar  fertilizer,  since  the  peas  will  leave  abundant  nitrogen 
in  the  soil.  Then  crimson  clover  following  the  cotton  will  again 
increase  the  capacity  of  the  soil  for  the  production  of  corn.  Peas 
can  also  be  well  sown  among  the  corn,  but  will  have  to  be  mown  after 
the  corn  is  cut  in  order  that  the  land  may  be  gotten  into  good  shape 
for  the  oats.  The  best  variety  of  oats  is  the  one  known  as  Virginia 
Grey  Winter  Turf  Oats.  . 

CORN. 

Corn  grows  well  in  all  sections  of  the  State,  though  in  the  high 
mountain  plateaus  of  the  northwest  section  a  quick-growing  variety 
is  needed,  as  in  the  North,  for  the  farms  there  lie  over  3,000  feet 
above  the  sea  and  are  mainly  devoted  to  grass.  While  south  of  what 
is  called  the  "Corn  Belt,"  we  can  grow  all  over  the  piedmont  and 
coast  regions  as  heavy  crops  as  are  grown  anywhere.  The  scanty 
crops  to  be  seen  in  various  sections  are  due,  not  to  the  lack  of  capacity 
in  the  soil  for  the  production  of  corn,  but  to  the  careless  mode  of  cul- 
tivation. In  some  parts  of  -the  coastal  plain  there  are  deep  peaty 
soils  of  wide  area  on  which  great  crops  of  corn  are  grown  year  after 
year  just  as  they  are  grown  in  the  West.  The  traveler  on  the  rail- 
road leading  from  Norfolk,  Va.,  to  Edenton,  N.  C.,  seeing  the  wide- 
spread corn-fields  and  the  black  soil,  could  well  imagine  himself  on 
the  black  lands  of  Illinois.  And  these  lands  are  as  well  adapted  to 
grass  and  stock  as  the  lands  of  the  West,  and  when  properly  farmed 
will  be  found  among  the  most  productive  corn,  oat,  and  grass  lands 
that  can  be  found,  while  the  cotton  and  truck  crops  can  be  increased 
by  the  same  good  farming.  These  black  soils  naturally  grow  up  in 
a  great  profusion  of  grasses  as  soon  as  left  idle,  and  over  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  the  late  Edmund  Ruffin  wrote  in  the  book  on  eastern  North 
Carolina  that  in  his  opinion  that  coast  section  was  destined  to  be  the 
greatest  stock  country  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  because  of  the  wonder- 
ful profusion  of  native  grasses.  From  Ruffin's  day  down  the  farmers 
have  been  engaged  in  killing  grass  for  the  single  culture  of  corn  or 
cotton.  When  the  great  swamps  in  the  coast  plain  are  finally  drained 
and  opened  up,  as  sections  of  them  have  been,  there  will  be  found 
the  greatest  corn  section  of  its  size  in  the  United  States.  All  over 
cotton  and  tobacco  sections  corn  has  been  looked  upon  merely  in  the 
3 


8  FARMING. 

notion  of  "supplies"  to  enable  the  farmer  to  make  more. cotton  or 
tobacco,  and  the  idea  of  corn  as  a  sale  crop  has  never  been  considered 
except  in  the  peaty  reclaimed  swamp  land  of  the  eastern  section, 
where  single  farmers  annually  produce  many  thousands  of  bushels, 
one  grower  in  the  swamp  country  of  Virginia,  near  the  North  Caro- 
lina line,  shipping  40,000  bushels  of  corn  annually.  How  many 
farmers  in  the  great  corn  belt  do  this  ?  The  practice  of  the  cotton 
growers  in  the  piedmont  section  has  long  been  to  confine  their  corn 
to  the  fertile  bottom-lands,  while  all  the  upland  is  devoted  to  the 
cotton  crop.  On  the  bottom-lands,  of  course,  the  superior  fertility 
and  moisture  of  the  soil  enables  them  to  grow  moderate  crops  of  corn, 
but  even  on  these  lands  the  crop  is  not  what  it  should  be  made  if  some 
system  of  rotation  was  practiced ;  and  the  fact  that  the  uplands  can 
be  made  to  produce  the  largest  of  crops  of  corn  has  been  abundantly 
demonstrated  at  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts,  where  on  a  natural  upland  soil  a  crop  of  88  bushels 
of  corn  per  acre  was  grown  after  but  few  years  of  rotative  farming, 
and  without  any  extravagant  expenditure. 

Since  the  raising  and  feeding  of  live-stock  lies  at  the  very  founda- 
tion of  successful  farming,  no  matter  what  the  money  crop  may  be, 
it  is  evident  that  in  any  improving  rotation  in  the  State  the  corn 
crop  must  be  one  of  the  crops  in  the  rotation,  and  the  more  of  it  that 
is  fed  on  the  farm  to  stock  the  greater  will  be  the  profit  in  the  crop 
itself  and  the  more  it  will  aid  in  the  improvement  of  the  soil  for  the 
money  crop  through  the  manure  made  from  the  feeding. 

Gradually,  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  farmers  are  coming  to 
realize  the  importance  of  the  corn  crop  for  the  making  of  ensilage, 
and  here  and  there,  especially  with  those  near  the  larger  towns  who 
are  engaged  in  dairying,  silos  are  being  built  and  used,  and  with  the 
silo  of  course  come  the  stock  to  eat  the  silage. 

Corn  is  especially  the  crop  needing  humus  in  the  soil,  and  hence 
it  succeeds  best  on  the  moist  and  fertile  bottom  soils  and  on  the 
black,  sandy,  and  peaty  soils  of  the  coast  region.  But  with  good 
farming  in  a  rotation  in  which  peas  or  clover  come  in  frequently  on 
the  land,  and  are  fed  to  stock  and  the  manure  applied  to  the  corn- 
field, there  is  no  part  of  the  State  in  which  large  crops  of  corn  cannot 
be  grown.  The  long  growing  season,  especially  on  the  coastal  plain, 
makes  the  special  selection  of  seed  for  earliness  needless.  In  fact, 
early  varieties  of  corn  are  not  so  productive  as  the  later  kinds,  and 
are  not  needed  here  except  in  the  high  mountain  plateau  of  the  north- 
western section.  It  is  a  common  practice  all  over  the  State  to  sow 
cow-peas  among  the  corn  at  last  working.  These  do  not  damage  the 
corn  at  all  and  are  of  help  to  the  soil,  and,  where  no  small  grain  is  to 
follow  the  corn,  crimson  clover  seed  can  be  sown  among  the  pea-vines, 
as  the  leaves  fall  in  September,  and  will  make,  with  the  dead  peas, 
an  admirable  green  manure  crop  for  cotton  in  the  spring. 


FARMING.  9 

There  is  another  advantage  of  the  long  growing  season  in  the  east- 
ern coast  plain.  It  is  a  common  practice  there  to  plant  a  crop  of 
early  potatoes  or  other  early  truck,  that  is  shipped  North  in  June,  and 
then  to  plant  a  crop  of  corn  or  cotton  which  will  fully  mature, 
though  in  case  of  the  cotton  the  planting  must  be  done  between  the 
rows  of  the  early  truck  before  the  crop  is  shipped,  but  the  corn  can 
be  planted  after  the  potato  crop  has  been  shipped  and  will  make  a 
fully  ripe  crop.  Since  the  truck  crop  is  very  heavily  fertilized,  there 
is  always'a  residual  amount  enough  for  a  heavy  crop  of  corn,  and  if 
peas  are  sown  among  the  corn  the  land  loses  very  little  fertility. 
But  as  we  have  said,  corn  is  essential  in  any  good  rotation  of  crops 
in  any  part  of  the  State,  and  over  the  larger  part  it  is  far  more  cer- 
tain than  in  what  is  called  the  corn  belt  of  the  Central  West,  where 
there  is  always  a  discussion  as  to  the  sufficient  ripeness  of  the  corn 
for  seed,  while  in  North  Carolina,  with  no  frost  usually  to  check 
corn  till  late  in  October,  and  often  into  November,  there  is  never  any 
doubt  about  the  full  maturity  of  the  seed  corn.  Where  the  corn  is 
planted  for  the  silo  there  is  "always  time  enough  to  get  a  crop  of  pea- 
vine  hay  from  the  same  land,  if  the  peas  are  sown  among  the  corn 
at  last  working,  and  after  the  peas  are  mown  the  stubble  is  the  best 
possible  place  for  the  small  grain  crops  of  wheat,  oats,  or  rye,  and,  as 
a  pea-vine  hay  crop  can  always  be  cut  after  the  harvesting  of  a  small 
grain  crop,  it  will  be  seen  that  our  climate  gives  us  special  advan- 
tages in  the  getting  of  two  crops  in  a  season.  In  the  piedmont  sec- 
tion we  have  known  75  bushels  per  acre  of  oats  harvested  and  later 
in  summer  two  tons  per  acre  of  the  finest  pea-vine  hay  made  from 
the  same  land. 

IRISH  POTATOES. 

Mr.  Lindsay,  who  lives  in  Portsmouth,  Va.,  but  whose  great  plan- 
tation is  in  the  drained  area  of  the  great  Dismal  Swamp,  told  re- 
cently the  following  anecdote:  He  said  that  recently  there  were 
several  Northern  farmers  looking  about  that  section  for  land.  One 
of  them  asked  Mr.  Lindsay  if  the  Irish  potato  could  be  grown  there. 
He  told  them  that  he  usually  shipped  not  less  than  10,000  barrels 
North.  One  of  his  hearers  was  so  much  surprised  that  he  said :  "My 
friend,  my  wife,  when  I  left  home,  gave  me  a  little  hatchet  to  give  to 
the  man  who  could  beat  me  lying.  I  am  about  ready  to  hand  it  over." 
He  really  thought  that  Mr.  Lindsay  was  telling  a  very  big  yarn,  when 
in  fact  he  has  frequently  shipped  thousands  of  barrels  over  the 
10,000 ;  and  not  only  grows  potatoes,  but  ships  about  40,000  bushels 
of  corn  to  Europe  annually  from  his  farm.  The  same  soil  that  is 
found  so  productive  of  the  Irish  potato  just  over  the  Virginia  line 
is  found  in  greater  areas  in  the  coast  country  of  North  Carolina  from 
the  Dismal  Swamp  southward,  and  as  earliness  in  this  crop  is  a  mat- 
ter of  great  importance,  the  North  Carolina  growers  have  some 
weeks  start  of  the  Virginia  planters.  Some  of  the  largest  growers  of 


10  FARMING. 

Irish  potatoes  in  the  United  States  are  found  in  eastern  North  Caro- 
lina. 

Mr.  Makely  of  Hyde  County,  whose  soil  occupies  a  similar  deep 
bed  of  black  vegetable  mold  as  that  of  Mr.  Lindsay,  plants  from  400 
to  600  barrels  annually  for  the  early  market,  and  there  are  numerous 
growers  who  plant  from  50  to  100  acres  annually.  The  early  potato 
crop  is  one  of  the  crops  of  the  great  trucking  section,  and  the  methods 
of  culture  will  be  more  fully  treated  of  when  we  come  to  practices 
of  the  truck  growers.  In  the  eastern  section  the  Irish  "potato  is 
grown  primarily  as  an  early  crop  for  the  Northern  market,  and  from 
seed  of  this  early  crop  a  late  crop  is  grown  for  seed,  for  no  truck 
farmer  now  depends  on  Northern  seed  potatoes  for  his  crop.  But  in 
the  plateau  section  in  Henderson  and  Transylvania  counties,  and 
some  other  of  the  counties  west  of  the  Blue  Eidge  Mountains,  there 
has  grown  up  a  great  industry  in  the  production  of  late  potatoes  and 
cabbages  for  the  markets  farther  South,  and  great  quantities  of  these 
are  shipped  every  fall  to  Florida  and  other  points  in  the  lower  South 
where  they  cannot  so  well  be  produced  at  that  season.  In  these  ele- 
vated mountain  sections  the  climate  approaches  that  of  the  Middle 
States,  and  the  potatoes  and  cabbages  are  grown  after  the  Northern 
fashion,  and  from  their  greater  nearness  to  the  Southern  market  the 
growers  have  a  decided  advantage  over  those  farther  North. 

SWEET  POTATOES. 

'  The  swreet  potato  in  North  Carolina  is  more  of  a  general  farm 
crop  than  the  Irish  potato.  It  is  grown  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  and 
while  the  varieties  preferred  in  the  North  are  produced  to  some  ex- 
tent by  the  market-gardeners  of  the  eastern  section,  the  greater  part 
of  the  sweet  potato  crop  is  composed  of  the  yam  varieties  that  are 
preferred  in  the  South  to  the  dry  Nansemonds  which  are  used  in  the 
North,  where  people  steam  or  boil  them,  a  practice  to  which  the 
softer  yams  will  not  submit.  Northern  people  coming  South  always 
bring  with  them  their  preference  for  a  dry  sweet  potato,  but  it  takes 
but  a  short  experience  with  the  sugary  yams  to  convince  them  that  a 
well-baked  yam  potato  is  far  superior  in  sweetness  to  the  dry  yellow 
potatoes  they  have  been  accustomed  to.  The  lighter  grey  soils  of  the 
piedmont  section  and  the  sandy  lands  of  the  coast  are  the  best  soils 
for  the  sweet  potato,  and  with  good  cultivation  it  is  not  hard  to  grow 
a  good  crop,  even  as  much  as  500  bushels  per  acre.  They  are  bedded 
in  early  spring  and  the  sprouts  set  later  as  in  other  sections.  But  for 
the  best  potatoes  for  winter  preservation  cuttings  are  made  from  the 
tips  o!f  the  vines  in  July,  and  are  set  in  the  same  way  as  the  early 
spring  plants,  and  if  the  ground  is  moist  hardly  a  cutting  will  at 
that  season  fail  to  grow. 

It  has  been  found  that  these  late  potatoes,  which  are  not  so  fully 
matured  as  those  from  the  spring  slips,  will  keep  far  better  in  winter. 


FARMING.  11 

For  small  potatoes  to  bed  in  spring  for  the  growing  of  plants  cut- 
tings are  made  in  August,  about  a  yard  long,  and  are  planted  in  coils 
so  that  only  the  tip  shows  above  ground.  These  coils  make  a  mass 
of  potatoes  of  small  size,  keep  easily  and  are  far  more  economical  of 
space  in  the  bed,  and  each  makes  as  many  sprouts  as  a  larger  one. 
Sweet  potatoes  are  grown  largely  for  the  feeding  of  hogs,  and  for 
this  purpose  the  most  productive  varieties,  which  are  not  so  much 
esteemed  for  table  use,  are  commonly  used,  such  as  the  Peabody  and 
the  Hayman  or  Southern  Queen.  The  hogs  are  turned  into  the  field 
to  dig  the  potatoes  for  themselves,  and  with  this  crop  and  some 
others  harvested  in  the  same  way,  as  we  will  mention,  pork-raising 
can  be  done  more  economically  in  North  Carolina  than  in  any  of  the 
great  corn-belt  States  of  the  West.  In  fact,  one  large  and  successful 
farmer  told  us  that  the  actual  cost  of  his  cured  hams  and  bacon  was 
four  cents  per  pound.  It  is  easy  then  to  see  that  the  raising  of  hogs 
and  the  curing  of  the  meat  can  be  made  a  very  profitable  industry  in 
North  Carolina.  Far  more  home-grown  bacon  is  now  on  the  markets 
of  the  State  than  formerly,  out  there  is  still  much  of  the  packers' 
meat  sold  here,  which  could  all  be  replaced  by  the  home  product  to 
the  profit  of  the  farmer.  Aside  from  their  value  as  stock  food  there 
is  in  all  the  towns  of  the  State  a  good  market  for  the  potatoes  our 
people  prefer,  and  there  is  also  a  good  demand  North  for  the  varieties 
preferred  there,  and  which  can  be  more  cheaply  produced  here  than 
farther  North. 

CLOVER  AND  LEGUME  CROPS. 

In  all  the  red-clay  uplands  and  in  the  mountain  country  the  red 
clover  of  the  North  thrives  perfectly  on  the  more  improved  lands. 
The  annual  crimson  clover  is  grown  with  great  success  in  all  parts 
of  the  State,  and  in  connection  with  the  cow-pea  makes  a  continuous 
winter  legume  crop  after  the  summer  growth  of  the  pea.  In  all  the 
State,  and  especially  on  the  clay  soils  of  the  piedmont  section,  the 
Japan  clover,  Lespedeza  striata,  has  spread  over  every  vacant  piece 
of  land,  and  makes  valuable  pasture  on  lands  useless  for  other  pur- 
poses, since  its  best  growth  is  made  during  the  hot  weather  when  the 
ordinary  grasses  are  scorched  by  the  sun. 

Alfalfa  thrives  with  the  greatest  luxuriance  in  all  parts  of  the  State, 
and  it  is  rapidly  becoming  one  of  the  most  important  of  hay  crops  as 
its  treatment  becomes  better  understood.  For  soil  improvement  and 
the  acquisition  of  nitrogen  from  the  air  the  so-called  Burr  clover  has 
been  found  very  valuable,  especially  in  the  coast  plain.  This  belongs 
to  the  same  botanical  genus  as  the  alfalfa,  and  its  burr-like  seeds  have 
been  found  to  carry  with  them  the  bacteria  for  inoculating  the  soil 
for  the  alfalfa.  Another  valuable  legume  crop,  which,  like  the  Burr 
clover,  will  re-seed  the  land  and  bring  another  crop  the  following 
fall,  is  the  Hairy  Vetch,  Vicia  villosa.  This  vetch,  sown  with  wheat 
or  oats  in  the  fall,  makes  a  very  valuable  hay  crop  and  is  off  the 


12  FARMING. 

ground  in  time  to  sow  cow-peas  for  a  second  hay  crop  or  to  grow  a 
crop  of  corn. 

But  the  greatest  of  legume  crops,  and  the  one  especially  adapted 
to  Southern  conditions,  is  the  so-called  cow-pea,  Vigna  catiang,  which 
in  numerous  varieties  is  grown  all  over  the  State.  Some  of  the 
earliest  varieties  will  mature  two  crops  in  one  season  on  the  same 
land.  But  the  early  sorts  are  not  so  large  hay-makers  as  the  later 
ones,  and,  as  the  season  is  long  enough  over  the  greater  part  of  the 
State  to  mature  any  of  them,  the  heavy  growing  sorts  are  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  the  bush  varieties.  With  the  cow-pea  the  farmer  of  North 
Carolina  can  accomplish  as  much  the  same  season  after  a  wheat  or 
oat  crop  is  cut  as  could  be  done  with  red  clover  in  two  years,  and  for 
the  rapid  improvement  of  the  soil  and  the  production  of  heavy  forage 
crops,  either  for  hay  or  for  soiling  green,  there  are  few  crops  that 
can  compare  with  it.  The  great  advantage  that  the  Southern  pea 
has  over  red  clover  is  that  it  can  be  used  in  the  starting  of  the  im- 
provement of  a  badly  run-down  piece  of  land,  on  which  clover  would 
hardly  grow  at  all,  for  the  pea  will  make  a  fair  crop  on  land  too  much 
depleted  to  grow  clover,  and  can  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  getting  it 
into  condition  in  which  clover  and  the  grasses  will  thrive.  But  the 
cow-pea  makes  a  hay  of  greater  feeding  value  than  red  clover,  and  it 
is  produced  in  such  a  short  time  that,  except  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances in  the  upper  districts,  it  should  be  used  rather  than  clover, 
as  it  enables  the  farmer  to  make  a  short  rotation  and  more  rapidly 
bring  up  his  land  while  growing  increasing  crops  of  the  sale  crop. 
It  has  been  well  called  the  "Clover  of  the  South/'  and  no  farm  rota- 
tion in  North  Carolina  is  good  that  ignores  the  cow-pea. 

Another  legume  crop  which  has  been  found  valuable,  and  which 
thrives  in  North  Carolina  far  better  than  in  the  North,  is  the  Japanese 
soja  or  soy  bean.  Many  varieties  of  this,  too,  are  grown,  and  in  all 
the  warmer  parts  of  the  State  the  taller-growing  and  later  varieties 
are  more  valuable  than  the  dwarf  and  early  ones  that  succeed  in  the 
North.  While  hardly  as  valuable  for  the  improvement  of  the  soil  as 
the  cow-pea,  the  soy-bean  makes  a  heavy  crop  of  forage  and  is  easily 
cured.  It  is  also  valuable  for  mixing  with  corn  in  the  silo. 

Melilotus  alba,  or  sweet  clover,  grows  spontaneously  all  over  the 
State,  and  though  considered  more  of  a  weed  than  anything  else,  it 
has  the  same  capacity  for  improving  the  soil  through  the  fixation  of 
the  free  nitrogen  from  the  air  that  other  legumes  have,  and  it  has 
also  been  found  that  the  soil  where  it  grows  becomes  inoculated  with 
the  bacteria  that  live  on  the  roots  of  alfalfa,  and  it  can  be  used  for 
inoculating  land  for  the  growing  of  alfalfa. 

GRASSES. 

No  part  of  the  country  is  better  supplied  with  native  grasses  than 
North  Carolina,  and  most  of  the  grasses  cultivated  in  the  North  thrive 


FARMING.  13 

equally  well  here.  While  timothy,  the  great  hay-grass  of  the  North, 
does  not  thrive  well  in  the  warmer  parts  of  the  State,  it  is  perfectly  at 
home  in  the  high  mountain  valleys  and  plateaus  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains.  The  traveler  from  the  North  passing  through  the 
cotton  country  and  seeing  none  of  the  grass-fields  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  at  home,  is  apt  to  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  grass  does  not 
thrive  here.  The  fact  is  that  the  chief  effort  of  the  cotton  farmers 
for  generations  has  been  to  kill  grass,  and  with  the  least  neglect  in 
the  early  stages  of  the  cotton  crop  it  becomes  hopelessly  "in  the  grass.'' 
The  neglect  of  grass  has  been  the  greatest  error  in  the  farming  of  the 
cotton  country,  for  it  will  certainly  thrive,  as  has  been  abundantly 
proved,  where  an  intelligent  effort  has  been  made  to  grow  it.  The 
statistics  of  the  Census  Bureau  show  that  for  ten  years  past  the  aver- 
age hay  crop  per  acre  has  been  larger  in  North  Carolina  than  in  New 
York  or  Iowa.  And,  though  hay  sells  for  three  or  four  times  the  price 
here  that  it  does  in  Iowa,  there  is  but  a  trifling  amount  grown  as 
compared  with  Iowa.  The  greater  yield  here  is  not  due  to  greater 
fertility  of  soil  than  Iowa,  but  to  the  greater  rainfall  and  the  longer 
season  that  permits  more  crops  to  be  made.  But  as  yet,  with  the 
exception  of  the  fertile  bottom-lands  along  the  rivers  and  creeks,  the 
southern  upland  country  does  not  need  grass,  but  does  need  the 
legumes  for  the  improvement  of  the  soil  and  the  making  of  hay  far 
superior  in  quality  to  any  grass  hay.  But  on  any  land  here  in  good 
heart  one  can  count  on  fair  crops  of  hay  from  orchard  grass,  tall 
meadow  oats  grass,  Italian  rye  grass,  and  the  fescues. 

For  summer  pasture  we  have  the  Bermuda  grass,  the  finest  of  all 
the  pasture  grasses  in  a  Southern  climate.  No  grass  in  the  North  is 
more  nutritious,  and  no  grass  grown  in  the  North  has  the  same 
capacity  for  growing  in  the  hottest  and  dryest  weather  of  summer. 
While  a  nuisance  in  the  cultivated  fields,  no  North  Carolina  farm 
should  be  without  a  permanent  pasture  of  Bermuda.  When  mixed 
with  Texas  blue-grass  the  pasturage  can  be  kept  up  through  the  year, 
as  the  Texas  blue-grass  is  a  winter-growing  grass,  while  the  Bermuda 
thrives  only  during  the  heat  of  summer.  Both  together  make  the 
ideal  permanent  pasture  for  North  Carolina. 

But  our  treatment  of  grasses  would  not  be  complete  without  men- 
tioning the  most  valuable  volunteer  grass  of  the  South — the  crab- 
grass.  Those  who  know  crab-grass  only  as  a  pest  in  the  North  can 
hardly  realize  its  value  here.  On  the  fertile  lands  of  the  market- 
gardens  of  the  coast  plain,  after  the  early  crops  are  shipped  North, 
the  growers  who  want  hay  have  only  to  level  the  soil  nicely  and  let  it 
lie,  and  the  crab-grass  grows  with  a  luxuriance  that  would  astonish 
those  familiar  with  its  puny  and  weedy  growth  in  the  North.  We 
were  passing  a  luxuriant  field  of  crab-grass  in  the  trucking  section  a 
few  years  ago,  when  our  companion  remarked  that  that  hay  crop 
would  constitute  the  fourth  crop  from  the  field  that  season.  He  said 
that  the  field  had  been  set  in  early  cabbage  plants  the  fall  before. 


14  FARMING. 

When  the  cultivation  of  the  cabbages  was  completed  snap-beans  were 
planted  between  the  rows  and  the  cabbages  were  cut  and  shipped. 
The  beans  were  gathered,  and  after  the  cabbage  stalks  had  been 
plowed  under  between  the  rows,  in  each  alternate  row  muskmelons 
were  planted  and  the  stripped  bean-vines  turned  under;  and  as  the 
vines  of  the  melons  spread  so  as  to  prevent  cultivation  the  grass  was 
allowed  to  grow,  and  its  shade  really  helped  the  melons;  and  now 
there  was  on  the  land  a  growth  of  grass  that  promised  two  tons  per 
acre  of  hay  fully  equal  to  the  best  timothy  hay  of  the  North.  In  fact, 
in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  State  one  can  get  as  much  hay  without 
sowing  a  seed  as  can  be  had  under  the  most  careful  culture  in  the 
North.  It  is  this  ease  of  living  that  has  been  responsible  for  a  great 
deal  of  the  careless  farming  in  the  South.  In  a  limited  section  in 
Davie  County  we  have  been  assured  that  128.  different  species  of 
grass  have  been  collected,  and  in  the  black  peaty  soils  of  the  coast 
plain  the  rank  profusion  with  which  grass  grows  on  every  vacant 
spot  indicates  well  what  could  be  done  there  with  well-bred  cattle. 
With  the  legumes  that  thrive  in  North  Carolina  as  they  thrive  no- 
where north  of  us,  and  the  wonderful  profusion  of  native  grass,  the 
State  could  in  all  its  sections  soon  become  a  stockman's  paradise  if 
devoted  to  that.  What  is  needed  here  is  diversified  farming  and 
farmers  who  have  been  accustomed  to  farm  systematically. 

DIVERSIFIED    FARMING. 

This  is  the  greatest  need  of  North  Carolina  and  of  the  whole  South. 
Our  people,  left  penniless  after  the  war,  were  compelled  to  use  every 
effort  to  get  means.  Cotton  cultivation  offered  the  readiest  way,  for 
on  the  cotton  crop  only  could  money  be  borrowed.  Hence,  with  the 
aid  of  commercial  fertilizers,  they  became  a  community  of  planters 
of  cotton  and  tobacco  rather  than  farmers,  depending  on  the  one  crop 
for  everything  else,  even  for  the  mules  that  cultivated  the  crop,  and 
for  the  meat  that  fed  the  hands.  Northern  farmers,  seeing  the  ruin 
wrought  by  the  constant  cultivation  of  cotton  year  after  year  on  the 
same  land,  are  apt  to  imagine  that  cotton  was  the  cause  of  this. 
Incidentally,  of  course,  it  was;  but  really  the  wasting  of  Southern 
soils  has  been  due  to  the  method  and  not  to  the  crop.  There  is  no 
crop  grown  that  so  readily  fits  into  an  improving  rotation  as  cotton — 
at  least,  none  that  more  readily  does  so,  though  the  old  idea  was  that 
cotton  must  always  be  a  planter's  and  not  a  farmer's  crop.  But  there 
is  a  very  marked  improvement,  and  the  leaven  of  improved  farming 
is  working  all  over  the  State  as  people  see  the  advantages  of  diversi- 
fied and  systematic  cropping.  The  long  dependence  on  commercial 
fertilizers  for  the  growing  of  cotton  has  led  our  people  to  think  that 
for  every  crop  grown  there  must  be  some  special  fertilizer  mixture, 
and  one  of  the  most  important  'lessons  to  be  learned  is  that  with  a 
good  rotation  of  crops  and  the  use  of  the  legumes  they  can  save  more 


FARMING.  15 

than  half  the  cost  of  the  fertilizers  while  growing  increased  crops  for 
sale. 

INTENSIVE    FARMING. 

Possessing  wide  areas  of  land,  the  Southern  people  have  been  ex- 
tensive planters  rather  than  intensive  farmers.  The  effort  of  the 
cotton  planter  was  to  see  how  many  acres  he  could  cultivate  to  the 
mule,  rather  than  how  much  labor  he  could  profitably  expend  on  an 
acre.  The  growth  of  the  market-gardening  industry  in  the  eastern 
section  of  the  State  has  shown  the  value  of  intensive  culture,  and  the 
market-gardeners  are  giving  to  the  farmers  lessons  on  the  intensive 
cultivation  of  the  soil.  With  acres  and  acres  of  land  covered  over- 
head high  enough  to  work  horses  under,  with  iron  pipes  through 
which  a  steam-pump  forces  the  water  for  the  irrigation  of  the  fields, 
and  a  cropping  in  winter  and  summer  that  keeps  the  land  producing 
income  during  the  entire  year,  which  our  climate  allows,  the  truck 
farmers  are  second  to  none  in  the  United  States  in  the  intensive  use 
of  their  land.  And,  as  we  have  intimated,  something  of  this  inten- 
siveness  is  practicable  in  the  greater  part  of  the  State  by  reason  of  the 
long  season.  The  trucker  of  the  east  will  plant  cotton  between  the 
rows  of  his  early  potatoes  on  which  he  has  been  lavish  in  the  use  of 
fertilizers,  and  will  get  a  crop  of  potatoes  running  up  at  times  to  100 
barrels  per  acre  or  more,  and  then  a  crop  of  more  than  a  bale  of 
cotton  per  acre.  The  strawberry  grower  takes  two  crops  of  berries 
from  his  land,  and  then  he,  too,  plants  cotton  on  the  turned-under 
strawberry  sod  and  makes  a  fine  crop.  Or,  he  may  plant  a  corn  crop 
after  the  strawberries  are  shipped  and  sow  peas  among  it,  and,  after 
the  corn  is  off,  have  the  finest  of  pasture  for  stock.  The  cotton  and 
grain  farmer  of  the  upper  country  sows  peas  after  his  small  grain  is 
harvested,  and  cuts  the  heavy  hay  crop  the  same  season,  and  can 
leave  the  stubble  sown  with  crimson  clover  for  a  hay  crop  the  next 
spring  in  time  to  plant  corn  or  cotton.  In  fact,  the  long  growing 
season  offers  to  the  wise  farmer  opportunities  for  the  intense  cultiva- 
tion of  a  few  acres  that  cannot  be  had  in  a  more  northern  climate. 
In  this  work  of  diversifying  and  intensifying  the  agriculture  of  the 
State,  the  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts  at  Raleigh,  the 
Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  and  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
with  its  test  farms  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  are  all  working  with 
zeal  and  energy,  and  the  new-comer  to  the  State  can  always  depend 
upon  them  for  information  and  advice  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 


FRUIT  CULTURE. 


Owing  to  the  great  range  of  climate  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
there  is  a  great  range  for  the  cultivation  of  the  various  fruits.  Fruits 
of  most  sorts  nourish  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  but  certain  regions  are 
better  adapted  than  others  to  the  production  of  certain  fruits  in  a 
commercial  way.  Therefore,  we  will  treat  of  each  separately,  taking 
first  the  small  fruits  as  grown  for  home  use  and  for  market. 

STRAWBERRIES. 

So  far  as  the  growth  and  perfection  of  the  fruit  is  concerned,  there 
is  no  section  of  the  State  where  the  finest  of  strawberries  cannot  be 
grown.  But  in  the  cultivation  of  this  fruit  for  market  we  must  take 
into  consideration  the  fact  that  the  strawberry  is  grown  commercially 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  that  each  section,  from  Florida  to 
Maine,  has  its  own  season  in  the  market.  Hence,  to  make  straw- 
berries profitable  for  shipment  North,  they  must  be  grown  where  the 
climate  is  early  enough  to  put  the  product  into  the  market  before  the 
localities  north  of  us  come  in  with  shorter  hauls  and  cheaper  freight. 
Hence,  in  our  high  mountain  country  the  crop  will  be  anticipated  by 
localities  on  the  coast  north  of  us,  and  the  shipment  could  not  be 
made  profitable  northward,  though  it  may  yet  be  possible  to  create  a 
Southern  market  for  the  product  of  the  mountain  country,  where  the 
fruit  can  be  grown  in  the  greatest  perfection.  Present  conditions, 
however,  have  confined  the  culture  of  the  strawberry  as  a  commercial 
crop  to  the  lands  of  the  coastal  plain,  where  climate  and  soil  combine 
to  make  the  business  a  very  profitable  one.  In  fact,  the  first  really 
fine  berries  sent  North  are  those  from  Columbus  County  in  this  State. 
Of  course,  earlier  in  the  season,  strawberries  come  from  Florida  and 
other  more  southern  sections,  but  there  are  none  of  them  equal  in 
quality  to  those  produced  in  the  counties  of  Columbus,  Duplin,  and 
Wayne,  in  North  Carolina.  From  a  small  beginning  but  a  few  years 
ago  the  business  of  strawberry  growing  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad  has  increased  to  great  proportions  and  thousands  of  car- 
loads are  annually  shipped  North.  Chadbourn,  in  Columbus  County, 
is  a  settlement  of  Michigan  people  who  colonized  there  nearly  twenty 
years  ago,  and  who,  by  their  energy  and  thrift,  have  developed  a 
large  business  in  strawberry  and  truck  farming,  and  are  reaping 
large  profits.  About  the  towns  of  Mount  Olive  and  Faison,  on  the 
Atlantic  Coast  Line,  the  strawberry  business  had  its  first  start,  and 
the  soil  there  has  been  found  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  production  of 
the  finest  fruit. 

Great  improvements  have  been  made  of  late  in  the  marketing  of 
the  strawberry  crop.  The  fruit  is  now  all  sold  at  the  stations  for 


IN  THE  BERRY  FIELDS. 


FRUIT  CULTURE.  17 

cash  to  the  Northern  dealers,  who  distribute  the  cars  to  the  various 
Northern  markets,  and  this  system  has  been  found  to  be  more  satis- 
factory than  when  the  individual  growers  shipped  to  commission 
merchants  in  the  cities  and  took  all  the  risks. 

While  strawberry  growing  is  the  leading  interest  in  some  sections, 
it  is  by  no  means  the  only  culture,  for  in  the  same  sections  large  crops 
of  early  Irish  potatoes,  green  peas,  and  other  crops  are  produced  and 
shipped  North.  Then,  too,  the  climate  allows  of  much  double  crop- 
ping. For  instance,  between  the  rows  of  early  potatoes,  when  the 
cultivation  is  completed,  cotton  is  planted,  and  when  the  potatoes  are 
dug  in  June  the  cotton  cultivation  goes  on,  and  often  very  large  and 
profitable  crops  of  cotton  are  produced  after  a  profitable  crop  of  pota- 
toes has  been  sold  from  the  same  land.  In  like  manner  the  straw- 
berry'plantation  is  allowed  to  bear  two  crops,  and  is  then  plowed 
down,  as  soon  as  the  second  crop  is  gathered,  and  cotton  planted  at 
once  on  the  land.  Or,  after  the  strawberries,  a  crop  of  peas  can  be 
sown  and  cut  for  hay  in  time  to  plant  the  same  land  in  a  second  crop 
of  Irish  potatoes  from  seed  of  the  early  crop.  This  second  crop  is 
now  used  entirely  for  seed  for  the  early  crops  the  following  season. 

There  is  still  much  room  for  the  development  of  the  strawberry 
culture,  for  the  demand  for  berries  of  high  quality  is  always  good 
and  is  annually  increasing  with  the  increase  in  population  northward, 
and  even  with  an  excess  there  would  be  room  for  large  canning  estab- 
lishments to  compete  with  California  in  fruit  packing. 

While  the  coast  region  will  always  be  the  section  where  profitable 
strawberry  growing  for  the  Northern  market  will  be  carried  on,  the 
increase  in  the  towns  of  the  State  makes*  home  markets  for  a  great 
deal  of  the  fruit,  and  makes  the  culture  of  the  strawberry  profitable 
to  many  in  all  parts  of  the  State  who  never  ship  a  crate  North.  In 
fact,  the  home  markets  are  apt  to  be  overlooked  and  poorly  supplied. 
The  valley  lands  of  the  mountain  section  produce  strawberries  of  the 
finest  quality,  and,  as  we  have  suggested,  they  may  be  the  source  for 
supplying  a  great  trade  with  the  far  South  in  these  berries  or  in  can- 
ning them. 

RASPBERRIES. 

Raspberries,  like  strawberries,  can  be  grown  in  every  section  of  the 
State,  but  are  far  better  adapted  to  the  upper  piedmont  and  mountain 
sections  than  to  the  warmer  parts  of  the  State.  In  the  eastern  section 
the  raspberry  will  never  be  of  commercial  importance,  since  the  cli- 
mate is  too  warm  for  the  largest  crops  and  the  fruit  does  not  bear 
long  transportation  like  the  strawberry.  In  all  the  eastern  and 
warmer  sections  the  raspberry  needs  to  be  grown  in  the  richest  and 
most  moist  clay  soils,  and,  while  not  needing  winter  protection  as  in 
the  North,  it  needs  shade  and  careful  cultivation  to  carry  the  plants 
well  through  the  long  summer,  and,  with  the  red  varieties,  especially, 
the  crop  is  not  near  so  large  as  in  the  North  and  in  the  upper  sections. 


18  FRUIT  CULTURE. 

But  in  no  part  of  the  country  does  the  raspberry  thrive  better  than 
in  the  valleys  and  plateaus  of  the  mountain  country,  where  soil  and 
climate  combine  to  make  it  fine  and  productive.  And  in  moist  clay 
soils  in  the  upper  piedmont  section  the  raspberry  thrives  finely  and 
can  be  made  profitable  for  the  local  markets. 

DEWBERRIES    AND    BLACKBERRIES. 

Our  native  dewberry  is  small,  though  early,  but  is  never  grown  to 
any  extent  for  market.  But  the  larger  form,  the  Canada  dewberry, 
has  been  found  to  be  among  the  most  profitable  of  small  fruits.  The 
variety  of  the  Canada  dewberry  known  as  the  Lucretia  is  the  only 
variety  cultivated.  While  it  is  grown  to  some  extent  in  the  coastal 
plain,  the  section  where  the  culture  of  dewberries  has  grown  most  is 
in  the  edge  of  the  lower  piedmont  and  mainly  about  the  town  of 
Ridgeway,  a  settlement  of  Northern  people,  where,  on  a  red-clay  up- 
land in  Warren  County,  dewberry  culture  has  grown  to  large  propor- 
tions and  has  proved  profitable.  The  fruit  goes  into  market  before 
strawberries  ripen  in  the  North  and  makes  a  variety  in  the  fruits  on 
the  market  and  usually  brings  a  good  price.  In  fact,  the  cultivation 
of  the  Lucretia  dewberry  is  extending  annually.  Instead  of,  as  for- 
merly, training  to  wires,  which  were  found  to  chafe  and  injure  the 
canes,  the  running  stems  are  now  tied  up  in  spring  to  stakes  and  the 
new  canes  are  allowed  to  run  on  the  ground  during  the  first  season, 
and  are  safer  there  in  winter  than  tied  up,  so  that  the  tying-up  is  not 
done  till  spring.  After  the  crop  is  off  the  old  canes  are  cut  away  and 
the  new  ones  trailed  along  the  rows  out  of  the  way  of  cultivation. 

The  later  and  upright-lowing  blackberries  are  also  grown  to  a 
considerable  extent  and  over  a  wider  territory  than  the  dewberry. 
In  fact,  there  are  numerous  varieties  of  wild  blackberries  in  all  parts 
of  the  State  from  which  as  fine  sorts  as  those  in  cultivation  could  be 
selected.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  mountain  and  upper  pied- 
mont sections,  where  blackberries  of  the  finest  quality  grow  so  pro- 
fusely that  little  attention  has  been  given  to  their  cultivation.  The 
earliest  blackberry  grown  for  market  is  the  Early  Harvest,  a  rather 
small  and  sweet  variety  of  wonderful  productiveness,  which  comes 
in  often  before  the  dewberries  are  over.  The  finest  fruit  is  from  the 
Wilson,  but  some  growers  claim  that,  though  the  Wilson  sells  for  a 
higher  price,  the  greater  productiveness  of  the  Early  Harvest  will 
make  it  more  profitable.  Here,  too,  there  is  much  room  for  growing 
dewberries  and  blackberries  for  the  local  markets,  which  are  as  yet 
not  well  supplied  and  depending  very  largely  on  the  wild  berries. 

WHORTLEBERRIES    OR    BLUEBERRIES. 

No  attempts  that  we  know  of  have  been  made  to  cultivate  these, 
but  the  wild  crop  is  of  great  commercial  importance  in  some  parts  of 
the  State,  and  in  Sampson  County  the  "Sampson  Blues"  have  a  great 


FRUIT  CULTURE.  19 

reputation  and  form  an.  important  crop  from  the  swamp  lands,  the 
shipment  amounting  to  perhaps  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually. 

PEACHES. 

Peaches  are  grown  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  but  commercially  in 
only  a  few  sections.  Peaches  of  remarkably  fine  quality  are  produced 
in  the  upper  piedmont  section  and  on  the  dryer  ridges  in  the  moun- 
tain country.  But  little  has  been  done  in  these  sections  beyond  the 
supply  of  the  local  markets.  Peach-growing  on  a  large  scale  has 
developed  mainly  in  the  long-leaf  pine  section,  the  sand-hill  country 
in  Moore  County,  where  immense  orchards  have  been  planted  and 
where  the  business  is  increasing.  In  this  section  there  has  never 
been  a  total  failure  of  the  crop,  and  the  peaches  produced  on  these 
sandy  soils  are  high-colored  and  of  fine  quality.  Inasmuch  as  lands 
in  that  section  are  the  lowest  in  price  of  any  in  the  whole  State,  it 
would  seem  that  with  the  rarilroad  facilities,  which  are  abundant,  a 
large  business  should  grow  up  in  peach  culture  as  well  as  in  some 
other  fruits.  Those  interested  in  peaches  should  visit  the  great 
orchards  near  Southern  Pines,  on  the.  Seaboard  Air  Line  Railroad, 
in  the  peach  season,  and  note  there  the  great  development  that  is 
being  made.  As  with  other  fruits,  the  later  and  finer  peaches  that  can 
be  produced  in  the  mountain  section  should  find  a  profitable  market 
in  the  South. 

PEARS. 

Pears  thrive  well  everywhere,  but  especially  in  the  coast  region 
and  the  upper  piedmont  and  mountain  sections.  In  all  parts  of  the 
State  the  LeConte  and  the  Kieffer,  the  hybrids,  with  the  Chinese 
pears,  thrive,  and  the  Kieffer  especially  is  a  far  better  pear  here  than 
in  the  North.  It  grows  here  to  a  larger  size  and  ripens  more  per- 
fectly than  northward,  and  for  canning  it  should  be  made  a  very 
profitable  fruit.  Where  proper  care  is  given,  all  the  finer  pears 
thrive  in  the  coast  country  and  in  the  mountains,  too,  better  than  in 
the  intermediate  section.  ~No  finer  pears  are  grown  anywhere  than 
those  we  have  seen  grown  near  the  coast. 

PLUMS. 

Where  properly  cared  for  all  the  species  of  plums  thrive  in  any 
section  of  the  State.  The  finer  European  sorts  demand  higher  cul- 
ture and  greater  care  in  fighting  the  curculio,  but  they  can  be  grown 
to  perfection,  while  the  native  sorts,  .and  especially  the  Japanese 
varieties,  thrive  in  the  greatest  profusion  and  with  the  most  ordinary 
care,  and  their  shipment  North  can  be  made  very  profitable. 


20  FRUIT  CULTURE. 

QUINCES. 

In  moist  soils  near  the  coast  and  in  the  moist  lands  of  the  mountain 
valleys  quinces  thrive  well.  In  fact,  they  can  be  grown  in  any  sec- 
tion, but  their  best  locality  is  near  the  salt  water  and  on  land  natu- 
rally moist.  Commercially  they  are  of  less  importance  than  other 
fruits,  but  in  all  parts  of  the*  State  a  home  supply  can  be  easily 
grown. 

CHERRIES. 

The  finer  sweet  cherries  cannot  be  grown  to  any  extent  in  the 
warmer  parts  of  the  State.  The  trees  grow  and  are  perfectly  healthy, 
but  they  fail  to  produce  crops.  The  Morelloes  and  other  sour  cherries 
thrive  all  over  the  State,  and  the  finer  cherries  thrive  in  great  per- 
fection in  the  upper  piedmont  and  mountain  sections,  and  cherries 
from  the  Brushy  Mountains  of  Wilkes  County  have  brought  in  the 
Northern  markets  prices  but  little  less  than  the  California  product; 
and  in  that  part  of  the  State,  if  the  crop  is  handled  after  the  Cali- 
fornia style,  the  cherry  ought  to  be  made  a  very  profitable  crop. 

GRAPES. 

Grapes  of  all  the  cultivated  sorts  thrive  in  North  Carolina  in  every 
section,  and  in  all  the  warmer  parts  of  the  State  the  Vitis  Vulpina, 
the  class  of  grapes  to  which  the  Scuppernong  belongs,  thrives  in 
greater  perfection  than  it  does  in  almost  any  other  section  of  the 
country. 

The  varieties  of  the  Ldbrusca  and  other  cluster  grapes,  commonly 
cultivated  northward,  thrive  well  in  every  section,  and  it  has  been 
found  that  by  grafting  the  European  Vinifera  grapes  on  the  roots  of 
these  varieties  they  can  be  grown  here  in  the  open  air  with  success, 
both  in  the  mountain  country  and  in  the  east.  The  largest  commercial 
vineyards  are  in  the  long-leaf  pine  section  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Southern  Pines,  in  Moore  County.  There  the  sandy  soil  seems  to  be 
well  suited  to  the  grape  as  well  as  the  peach,  and  the  Delawares  and 
Niagaras  grown  there  are  unsurpassed  in  beauty  and  quality  by  the 
same  varieties  grown  elsewhere. 

Eastern  North  Carolina  is  the  home  of  the  Scuppernong  and  other 
varieties  of  the  Vulpina  class  of  grapes.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  they 
do  not  ship  well,  these  grapes  are  almost  unknown  to  the  Northern 
people,  and,  being  so  different  in  character  to  those  they  have  been 
accustomed  to,  it  takes  a  Northern  visitor  some  time  to  acquire  a 
liking  for  them.  But  a  little  experience  with  this  class  of  grapes 
soon  makes  the  new-comer  fond  of  eating  them.  It  has  been  demon- 
strated that  the  Scuppernong  is  the  finest  wine  grape  in  America 
to-day.  The  making  of  Scuppernong  wine  is  on  the  increase  as  the 
proper  management  of  the  wine  is  better  understood.  The  Garrett 
Company  of  Halifax  County  is  now  making  many  thousands  of  gal- 


NOTE  THE  DIFFERENCE  !    DONE  WITH  STRAWBERRIES  IN  A  FEW  YEARS. 


FRUIT  CULTURE.  21 

Ions  of  the  finest  Sauterne  and  other  classes  of  wines,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  eastern  North  Carolina  should  not  compete  on  even  terms 
with  California  in  the  making  of  wine,  and  wine  of  a  far  better 
and  lighter  character  than  the  wines  of  California. 

ORCHARDING    IN    GENERAL. 

Of  course,  the  apple  is  the  great  orchard  tree,  and  while  apples  can 
be  grown  with  success  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  the  cultivation  of 
winter-keeping  apples  on  a  commercial  scale  will  always  be  confined 
to  the  mountain  country  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  more  elevated 
lands  in  the  upper  piedmont  section.  In  the  mountain  country  apples 
have  long  been  grown  with  great  success,  though  with  little  attention 
on  the  part  of  the  grower.  The  Cherokee  Indians  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  the  State  raised  a  great  many  apples  from  seed.  Some  of 
these  have  gotten  into  the  nurseries  and  are  esteemed,  but  there  are 
still  a  great  many  of  the  old  seedling  apples  in  the  mountain  country 
which  are  worthy  of  cultivation.  Apples  have  been  grown  in  the 
mountain  country  in  spite  of  almost  absolute  neglect,  simply  because 
of  the  admirable  adaptation  of  the  soil  and  climate  to  the  apple. 
Some  years  ago  there  was  a  specially  full  exhibit  of  apples  at  one  of 
the  State  Fairs,  and  three  of  the  best  judges  of  fruit  in  the  country 
were  selected  to  judge  them.  These  were  Professor  Bailey  of  Cor- 
nell University,  Mr.  Taylor,  who  was  afterwards  superintendent  of 
the  horticultural  exhibits  at  the  St.  Louis  Fair,  and  Mr.  Brackett, 
the  Pomologist  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  Washington. 
Mr.  Brackett  declared  that  such  fruit  was  grown  only  in  two  sections 
of  the  United  States — North  Carolina  and  the  Ozarks  of  Missouri 
and  Arkansas — and  that  North  Carolina  had  the  advantage  not  only 
of  her  position  nearer  the  Eastern  markets,  but  that  her  mountain 
soils  are  very  fertile,  while  those  of  the  Ozarks  are  very  poor.  With 
the  extension  of  railroads  into  the  mountain  country  and  some  liber- 
ality on  the  part  of  the  roads  in  the  matter  of  freights,  the  cultivation 
of  apples  will  grow  to  an  immense  business  in  western  North  Caro- 
lina. Here  and  there  large  orchards  are  being  planted  and  cared  for 
in  modern  style,  and  the  example  of  these  will  spread  through  the 
section. 


MARKET-GARDENING  WITH  KITCHEN  VEGETABLES. 


The  greatest  development  of  late  years  in  North  Carolina  has  been 
in  the  production  of  early  vegetables  for  the  Northern  markets  in  the 
eastern  coastal  plain,  and  in  the  production  of  late  vegetable  crops  in 
the  mountain  section  for  the  Southern  coast  markets.  Both  these  two 
distinct  lines  of  vegetable  culture  are  growing,  and  the  growers  are 
intensifying  their  work  and  getting  greater  returns  per  acre  than 
ever.  Both  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  coast  plain  are  well  adapted 
to  the  production  of  early  vegetables,  and  with  the  adoption  of  frames 
protected  with  cloth  or  glass,  and  sometimes  with  steam-heating 
pipes,  the  production  of  crops  in  winter  and  early  spring  is  carried 
on  with  great  success,  and  large  areas  are  now  irrigated  by  means  of 
pipes  running  overhead  high  enough  to  work  teams  under.  With 
rapid  transportation  to  the  Northern  cities  by  rail  and  water,  the 
business  of  supplying  early  vegetables  to  the  growing  Northern  cities 
is  certain  to  increase  beyond  its  present  large  proportions.  The  lead- 
ing crops  grown  by  the  eastern  market-gardeners  are  as  follows : 

IKISH    POTATOES. 

The  Irish  potato  is  one  of  the  leading  truck  crops  grown  for  the 
early  market,  and  also  as  a  second  crop  for  the  winter  market  and 
for  seed.  From  the  city  of  New  Bern  alone  over  100,000  barrels  of 
early  Irish  potatoes  are  shipped  annually,  and  the  crop  in  other  sec- 
tions is  a  very  large  one.  One  grower  in  Hyde  County  plants  600 
barrels  for  the  early  crop,  and  from  these  he  grows  a  second  crop 
sufficient  for  his  next  year's  supply  of  seed  potatoes  and  many  bar- 
rels to  sell.  The  early  potato  crop  is  planted  in  February  and  goes 
to  market  in  June.  This  gives  time  to  grow  a  crop  of  pea- vine  and 
crab-grass  hay  on  the  land  and  then  have  it  ready  to  plant  the  second 
crop  of  potatoes  from  seed  of  the  first  crop  in  August.  This  second 
crop  is  dug  in  December  and  makes  the  best  seed  for  the  following 
spring,  as  the  potatoes  keep  sound  and  unsprouted  during  the  short 
time  they  are  out  of  the  ground,  and  grow  with  a  vigor  never  found 
in  the  seed  brought  from  the  North. 

In  some  sections  it  is  the  practice  to  plant  cotton  between  the  rows 
of  early  potatoes  at  the  last  working  of  the  crop,  and  when  the  pota- 
toes are  dug  and  shipped  the  cultivation  of  the  cotton  is  continued, 
and  the  heavy  fertilization  of  the  potato  crop  insures  a  heavy  crop  of 
cotton,  too,  and  in  this  way,  after  shipping  a  profitable  crop  of  pota- 
toes, there  is  often  a  bale  or  more  per  acre  of  cotton  grown.  But,  for 
the  welfare  of  the  truck  crops,  it  is  always  better  to  follow  the  early 
crops  with  peas  for  hay.  On  the  heavily  manured  soil  the  natural 


LETTUCE  FOR  EARLY  MARKET,  WILMINGTON  TO  FAYETTEVILLE. 


MARKET-GARDENING  WITH  KITCHEN  VEGETABLES.  23 

crab-grass  grows  rapidly  in  warm  weather,  and  this,  mixed  with  the 
peas,  makes  the  best  of  hay,  and  the  presence  of  the  crab-grass  makes 
it  easier  to  cure  the  peas.  In  the  mild  winter  climate  of  the  coast 
country  the  late  crop  of  potatoes  can  be  piled  in  windrows  and 
covered  with  earth.  Some  growers  lift  them  when  the  early  potatoes 
from  Bermuda  come  in,  and,  being  fresh  from  the  soil,  they  sell  as 
"New  Bermudas"  in  New  York,  bringing  from  $2.50  to  $5  per 
barrel. 

CABBAGES. 

The  only  cabbages  grown  for  market  in  the  coast  trucking  region 
are  the  early  cabbages,  which  can  be  shipped  North  in  March  and 
April  profitably.  The  variety  used  is  generally  the  Early  Wakefield. 
The  seed  are  sown  in  early  September  and  at  intervals  till  October, 
so  as  to  have  plants  just  the  right  size  to  set  the  last  of  November  or 
early  December  in  the  open  field.  The  plants  are  set  on  heavily 
fertilized  ridges,  and  it  is  important  that  the  plants  be  just  old  enough 
and  not  too  old,  as  the  plants  that  have  gotten  too  large  in  the  fall 
may  run  to  seed  in  the  spring  without  heading.  The  cabbages  are 
shipped  in  crates  that  hold  about  a  barrel  and  are  among  the  most 
profitable  and  largely  grown  crops  of  the  market-gardens.  There  is 
another  large  cabbage  interest  in  the  mountain  country,  where  the 
late  summer  and  fall  cabbages  are  grown  and  shipped  in  August  and 
September  to  the  Southern  coast  cities — Charleston,  Savannah,  and 
Jacksonville — where  the  climate  is  not  favorable  to  the  growing  of 
the  late  cabbages.  Several  counties  are  engaged  in  this  culture,  the 
most  extensive  being  in  Henderson  County.  But  in  all  the  mountain 
counties  the  late  cabbage  crop  is  of  great  importance,  as  the  climate 
there  is  more  favorable  to  their  growth  than  in  the  warmer  parts  of 
the  State,  and  the  eastern  towns  of  the  State  furnish  a  market  for 
a  great  deal  of  this  cabbage.  The  late  crop  of  cabbages  in  the  moun- 
tain counties  probably  amounts  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
while  the  early  crop  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  will  reach  over 
half  a  million  dollars  in  value. 

LETTUCE. 

This  is  now  probably  the  most  profitable  crop  grown  by  the  truckers 
in  the  coastal  plain  for  the  area  planted.  It  is  grown  entirely  during 
the  cool  season  of  fall,  winter,  and  early  spring.  It  is  grown  almost 
entirely  in  frames  covered  with  cotton  cloth,  though  some  use  glass 
sashes.  Some  of  the  larger  growers  use  steam-pipes  to  heat  the 
frames  on  very  cold  nights,  and  have  irrigating  pipes  above  the 
frames  for  watering.  Two  crops  are  grown,  one  being  cut  about  the 
last  of  November,  and  the  other,  set  at  that  time,  is  marketed  in  March 
and  April.  The  lettuce  that  is  cut  the  last  of  November  is  followed 
by  beets  for  the  early  spring  market,  and  these  by  cucumbers  and 


24  MARKET-GARDENING  WITH  KITCHEN  VEGETABLES. 

second-crop  potatoes  till  time  to  set  lettuce  again.  In  this  way  the 
soil  is  kept  growing  something  every  day  in  the  year,  and  as  this 
intensive  work  costs  heavily  to  prepare  the  frames  and  to  manure  as. 
heavily  as  this  sort  of  cropping  requires,  so  the  profits  are  corre- 
spondingly larger  than  the  more  extensive  work  of  the  open  field, 
and  it  is  not  rare  to  get  $3,000  an  acre  from  the  winter  lettuce- 
growing. 

KALE    AND    SPINACH. 

These  are  sown  in  the  early  fall  for  shipment  as  greens  during  the 
winter  and  early  spring.  A  very  severe  winter  North  which  kills 
these  crops  there  will  at  times  make  the  kale  and  spinach  crops  very 
profitable.  Kale,  being  the  hardier  and  more  productive,  sells  for  a 
lower  price  than  spinach,  but  as  both  are  cheaply  grown  and  only 
occupy  the  land  during  the  cool  season,  and  enable  the  trucker  to 
keep  some  hands  at  work  ready  for  the  spring  and  to  take  care  of  the 
lettuce  frames,  the  greens  crop  is  usually  fairly  profitable,  and  some 
think  that  in  seasons  when  the  shipping  is  not  profitable  it  pays  to 
grow  these  crops  merely  to  turn  under  in  the  spring. 

STRING-BEANS    OR    SNAPS. 

These  are  very  largely  grown  by  the  market-gardeners,  and,  when 
early,  they  pay  very  well,  as  they  are  cheaply  grown,  need  light  fer- 
tilization and  are  out  of  the  way  in  early  summer,  so  that  a  hay  crop 
of  peas  and  crab-grass  can  be  grown  on  the  same  land,  the  dead  bean 
tops  helping  to  fertilize  the  land.  Muskmelons  are  sometimes  planted 
between  the  rows  in  alternate  rows  and  the  bean  vines  turned  under 
for  their  benefit  after  the  beans  are  shipped,  and  these  followed  by  a 
volunteer  crop  of  crab-grass  hay  or  by  the  second  crop  of  Irish  pota- 
toes, for  no  market-gardener  is  satisfied  with  less  than  two  crops 
annually  on  his  land,  and  often  gets  three  or  four,  for  the  second-crop 
Irish  potatoes  can  be  at  once  followed  by  the  early  cabbage  crop  from 
plants  set  in  December. 

ENGLISH    PEAS. 

The  early  crop  of  English  peas  is  a  very  important  one  to  the 
market-gardener  in  eastern  North  Carolina.  The  main  crop  of  the 
extra  earlies  is  usually  sown  in  January  and  goes  to  market  late  in 
April  and  early  May.  Single  growers  will  often  plant  a  hundred 
acres  in  peas.  They  are  a  cheaply-grown  crop  and  are  soon  off  the 
land,  and  the  vines  turned  under  are  valuable  for  the  improvement 
of  the  soil  and  can  at  once  be  followed  by  some  later  crop,  such  as 
cucumbers  or  melons. 

CELERY. 

This  crop  is  not  as  yet  very  largely  grown  in  the  eastern  trucking 
section,  but  it  can  be  made  a  very  profitable  crop  on  the  peaty  re- 


MARKET-GARDENING  WITH  KITCHEN  VEGETABLES.  25 

claimed  swamp  lands  by  planting  in  the  late  fall  so  as  to  have  the 
crop  come  in  in  the  later  spring  months  after  the  Northern  crop  is 
over.  In  the  moist  bottom-lands  of  the  piedmont  section  celery  grows 
finely,  and  in  the  cool  valleys  of  the  mountain  country  it  attains  a 
quality  far  superior  to  the  big  pithy  celery  that  is  so  largely  grown  in 
Michigan  and  shipped  over  the  country.  The  home  markets  of  the 
State  and  of  the  Southern  cities  in  general  are  poorly  supplied  with 
fine  celery  till  the  late  crop  from  Florida  comes  in,  and  a  very  profit- 
able industry  could  be  added  in  the  mountain  country  in  growing 
celery  for  the  home  and  Southern  markets  in  winter.  It  is  an 
expensive  crop  to  grow,  and  the  gardeners  in  the  eastern  section  find 
it  more  profitable  to  devote  their  attention  to  the  lettuce  crop. 

CUCUMBERS. 

The  cucumber  crop  is  getting  to  be  a  very  important  one  to  plant  in 
the  cloth-protected  frames  as  the  lettuce  is  cut  out  and  shipped,  and, 
being  protected  there  from  late  frosts,  it  comes  on  early  and  the  crop 
is  shipped  North  till  the  price  falls,  and  then  the  growers  have  im- 
mense tanks,  holding  about  fifty  barrels  each,  in  which  the  remainder 
of  the  crop  is  put  into  brine  and  later  sold  to  the  picklers,  and  the 
second-crop  Irish  potatoes  occupy  the  land  till  time  to  set  the  lettuce 
again  for  the  spring  crop.  A  thousand  bushels  per  acre  is  a  common 
crop  of  cucumbers. 

MUSKMELONS    OR    CANTALOUPS. 

These  are  sometimes  grown  in  the  same  way  as  the  cucumbers  to 
get  an  early  crop,  but  are  commonly  planted  in  large  areas  following 
a  crop  that  is  taken  off  in  early  spring  or  planted  while  that  crop  is 
still  growing.  Only  the  very  early  varieties  of  small  size,  like  the 
Netted  Gem  or  Rocky  Ford,  are  grown,  as  these  are  more  in  demand 
than  the  large  kinds  and  are  easily  packed  in  crates. 

CAULIFLOWERS. 

These,  like  the  early  cabbages,  are  set  in  the  fall,  but  are  not  so 
largely  grown.  Sometimes  they  are  set  in  the  frames  and  the  remain- 
ing space  filled  in  with  lettuce  and  the  cauliflower  given  the  full 
room  as  the  lettuce  is  cut  out.  Grown  in  this  way,  they  come  into 
head  in  March  and  can  be  made  quite  a  profitable  crop. 

TOMATOES. 

Tomatoes  are  not  largely  grown  by  the  market-gardeners  in  the 
eastern  section.  When  the  plants  are  forwarded  under  glass  and  set 
early,  so  that  the  first  fruits  ripen  the  first  of  June,  they  can  be  profit- 
ably shipped ;  but  later  the  crop  is  seriously  damaged  by  sun-scald 
and  the  plants  are  liable  to  blight.  Hence,  the  crop  is  not  there  con- 
sidered a  profitable  one.  In  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and 


26  MARKET-GARDENING  WITH  KITCHEN  VEGETABLES. 

especially  in  the  mountain  country,  tomatoes  thrive  in  great  luxuri- 
ance and  of  the  finest  quality,  and,  if  grown  there  on  a  large  scale,  a 
profitable  canning  industry  could  be  built  up,  as  the  conditions  there 
are  more  similar  to  those  in  the  great  canning  sections  northward. 

LIMA    BEANS. 

The  general  humidity  of  the  climate  in  the  warmer  sections  of  the 
State  forbids  success  with  the  navy  beans  which  are  grown  in  the 
North,  but  the  introduction  of  the  bush  forms  of  the  lima  bean  opens 
up  an  opportunity  for  the  profitable  culture  of  these  fully  equal  to 
that  which  has  been  so  profitable  in  California.  The  beans  grown 
here  should  be  of  the  small  or  butter-bean  type,  as  the  large  limas  are 
unproductive  except  in  the  cool  mountain  valleys  where  the  conditions 
more  nearly  resemble  those  of  the  North. 

ONIONS. 

Onions  are  largely  grown  for  bunching  and  shipping  as  green 
onions,  and  this  culture  can  be  made  very  profitable,  since  the  sets 
planted  in  the  fall  will  be  ready  in  the  eastern  section  for  market, 
often  in  February,  and  always  in  March  and  April.  The  yellow 
potato  onion  can  also  be  profitably  grown  as  a  ripe  onion,  as  it  comes 
in  from  fall-planted  sets  in  the  early  part  of  summer,  before  any 
Northern-grown  onions  are  ripe,  and  usually  brings  very  fair  prices. 
In  the  mountain  country  the  bottom-lands  are  very  well  adapted  to 
the  cultivation  of  onions  from  seed.  The  finest  Prizetaker  onions  we 
have  ever  seen  were  grown  near  Asheville  and  brought  to  a  Farmers7 
Institute  at  Biltmore  some  years  ago.  Seed  sown  there  in  frames  in 
winter  and  transplanted  to  the  open  ground  later  grow  to  an  immense 
size,  such  as  are  often  seen  in  crates  at  the  green  grocers'  as  Spanish 
yellow  onions.  But  there  is  no  part  of  the  State  where  good  onions 
cannot  be  grown  the  first  season  from  the  seed  if  they  are  sown  early. 

ASPARAGUS. 

This  is  an  imp6rtant  crop  to  the  truck  growers  of  the  eastern  coast 
section,  where  on  warm  sandy  soil  the  crop  comes  early  and  brings  a 
fancy  price  in  the  Northern  markets.  North  Carolina  asparagus  is 
a  standard  article  in  the  Northern  markets  and  is  a  profitable  crop 
when  well  grown.  But  asparagus  for  home  use  and  home  markets 
can  be  grown  all  over  the  State,  and  the  local  markets  are  rather 
poorly  supplied  and  offer  a  good  market  for  many  sections  of  the 
State. 

BEETS. 

Extra  early  beets  are  grown  in  the  lettuce  frames  following  the 
cutting  of  the  November  crop  of  lettuce.  They  are  also  grown  to  a 


MARKET-GARDENING  WITH  KITCHEN  VEGETABLES.  27 

considerable  extent  from  seed  sown  in  February  in  the  open  ground, 
which  make  beets  for  bunching  in  May. 


WATERMELONS. 


These  are  grown,  of  course,  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  but  for 
Northern  shipment  mainly  in  the  eastern  and  lower  piedmont  sec- 
tions. On  light  sandy  soils  the  crop  is  usually  a  profitable  one,  both 
for  shipping  and  for  the  home  market,  and  melons  of  immense  size 
and  fine  quality  are  produced. 


CLIMATES. 


We  say  climates  rather  than  climate,  for  in  North  Carolina  there 
are  various  climates. 

In  the  high  plateaus  of  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State,  where 
the  forest  growth  is  white-pine,  hemlock,  and  fir,  one  might  imagine 
himself  in  Canada.  In  this  section — the  counties  of  Ashe,  Alle- 
ghany,  and  others — the  farms  lie  generally  over  3,000  feet  above  the 
sea-level,  and  grass  and  live-stock  are  the  leading  interests.  From 
these  lofty  elevations  the  State  slopes  to  the  sun  and  the  sea,  and 
there  is  a  series  of  climates  all  the  way  to  the  lower  coast,  where  we 
find  the  first  tall  palm-tree  growth  in  the  forest.  From  white-pines 
and  hemlocks  to  palms  indicates  a  wonderful  range  of  climate,  and 
hence  a  wonderful  range  of  capacities  for  the  production  of  different 
crops,  from  the  blue-grass  of  the  northwestern  corner  to  the  palms  and 
sugar-cane  of  the  southeast  section. 

THE    MOUNTAIN    SECTION. 

This  is  the  region  west  of  the  great  escarpment  of  the  Blue  Eidge, 
in  which  are  found  the  highest  mountain  peaks  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  It  is  a  region  of  fertile  valleys  and  elevated  plateaus, 
with  a  climate  very  similar  to  that  of  the  Northern  Middle  States. 
The  summers  are  cool  and  pleasant  and  the  whole  region  is  an 
attractive  one  to  the  summer  visitor  and  is  becoming  a  great  summer 
resort.  The  winters  are  cold,  but  shorter  than  those  of  the  Middle 
States  North.  In  most  mountain  regions  the  mountainsides  are 
rocky  and  sterile,  but  in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina,  as  a  rule, 
the  mountain  slopes  are  covered  with  fertile  soil  and  in  some  parts 
of  the  mountain  country  the  treeless  "balds"  have  their  slopes  to 
their  lofty  tops  covered  with  fertile  soil  and  rich  grasses,  on  which 
great  herds  of  cattle  are  grazed  in  summer.  The  valleys  in  the 
southern  section  of  the  mountain  country  are  less  elevated  and  the 
climate  is  mild  and  pleasant,  while  the  'snowfall  is  very  light.  The 
clear  streams  of  water  that  flow  everywhere  and  the  natural  growth 
of  fine  grasses  mark  this  region  for  cattle  and  the  dairy,  while  on 
the  uplands  fruit  of  all  kinds  flourishes  as  it  seldom  does  elsewhere. 
It  is  destined  to  be  the  most  noted  apple-growing  section  in  the  whole 
country.  Apples  from  the  mountain  country  have  twice  carried  off 
the  first  prize  at  the  Madison  Square  Garden  in  New  York  City  in 
competition  with  the  whole  United  States.  Peaches  attain  a  color 
and  quality  there  which  they  do  not  reach  in  the  lower  country.  They 
grow  as  handsome  as  the  California  peaches,  and  as  to  quality  the 
California  product  is  hardly  to  be  named  in  comparison  with  them. 


ON  THE  ATLANTIC  BEACH,  WILMINGTON. 


CLIMATES.  29 

In  short,  the  mountain  country  is  admirably  adapted  to  dairying  and 
fruit-growing  and  homes — 

"Where  the  wing  of  life's  best  angel, 
Health,  is  on  the  breeze." 

THE    PIEDMONT    SECTION. 

This  section  properly  extends  from  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge  to 
the  line  of  hills  some  hundred  or  more  miles  eastward,  which  make 
the  falls  of  the  rivers  that  run  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.  This 
eastern  limit  is  a  series  of  elevations  rising  in  some  places  to  over 
1,000  feet  above  the  sea  and  known  by  various  names,  as  the  Uwhar- 
rie  Mountains,  Hickory  Mountain,  Occoneechee  Hills,  and  Rouge- 
mont,  and  it  extends  from  the  South  Carolina  line  to  the  Virginia 
line.  Between  this  line  of  hills  and  the  Blue  Ridge  is  a  rolling 
country  of  hill  and  dale  and  river  and  valley,  with  their  fertile  bot- 
tom-lands. In  this  section  the  two  tiers  of  counties  south  of  the 
Virginia  line  are  mainly  devoted  to  the  production  of  the  famous 
gold-leaf  tobacco,  which  is  produced  in  North  Carolina  better  than 
elsewhere.  Southward  of  these  counties  the  leading  crop  is  cotton. 
The  whole  section  is  evidently  naturally  fitted  to  diversified  farming, 
with  grass,  grain,  and  cotton,  with  cattle  to  consume  the  abundant 
hay  crops  that  can  be  produced.  The  climate  of  this  region,  sheltered 
from  the  northwest  blast  in  winter  by  the  high  mountains  west,  is 
far  milder  in  winter  than  the  mountain  country  west  of  the  Ridge. 
The  snowfall  in  winter  is  light — even  lighter  than  the  sections  east 
of  it,  because  of  the  lesser  humidity  of  the  climate — and  there  is 
hardly  a  day  in  winter  when  farm  work  in  the  soil  cannot  go  on. 
The  soils  of  this  section  are  largely  the  result  of  the  decomposition 
of  granitic  rocks  forming  the  deep  beds  of  blood-red  clay.  Here  and 
there  this  red  clay  is  overlaid  by  a  gray  and  lighter  soil,  the  tobacco 
soil  of  the  country.  The  red-clay  lands  are  admirably  adapted  to  the 
cultivation  of  wheat,  and  when  well  improved  grow  great  crops.  On 
the  red-clay  soil  of  this  section  the  late  Governor  Holt  made  on  an 
80-acre  field  46%  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  and  the  same  well- 
improved  farm  makes  great  crops  of  cotton,  corn,  and  hay.  Thousands 
of  acres  of  similar  lands  are  waiting  for  the  systematic  farmer  to  go 
to  work  to  bring  out  their  capacities.  There  is  no  section  where  deep 
plowing  and  subsoiling  produce  greater  results  than  on  these  red-clay 
uplands,  for  the  piedmont  red  clay  is  all  good  soil  down  to  the  fast 
rock,  when  once  aerated  and  frosted  by  the  winter,  and  there  are 
thousands  of  farms  nominally  worn  out  that  only  need  a  man  with 
energy  enough  to  break  into  the  fertile  farm  that  lies  right  under 
the  scratch  made  by  the  little  one-horse  plow  of  by-gone  days.  With 
careless  cultivation  and  shallow  plowing  these  hills  are  apt  to  wash 
into  gullies,  but  with  deep  plowing  and  proper  level  and  shallow  cul- 
ture there  is  less  danger  of  this.  With  one  of  the  most  delightful  of 


30  CLIMATES. 

climates  and  blessed  with  health,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  surplus 
lands  of  this  section  should  not  become  the  homes  of  many  thousands 
more  successful  farmers  than  now,  when  the  large  farms  are  divided 
up  and  properly  cultivated.  The  main  line  of  the  Southern  Railway 
runs  through  this  section,  with  branches  east  and  west  in  all  sections, 
so  that  railroad  transportation  is  excellent.  At  almost  every  station 
one  sees  cotton  mills  in  operation,  and  at  High  Point,  a  town  which 
has  grown  in  the  past  fifteen  years  from  a  hamlet  of  300  people  to 
a  city  of  over  7,000,  there  is  the  largest  woodworking  industry  in 
the  whole  South.  All  these  factories  are  taking  men  who  were  for- 
merly on  the  farms,  and  are  opening  markets  in  all  sections  for  gar- 
den and  farm  products  to  feed  these  people,  for  every  cotton  mill 
means  quite  a  village  to  be  fed  by  the  surrounding  farms.  The  pied- 
mont section  is  a  high  rolling  plain,  rising  from  an  elevation  of  about 
600  feet  on  its  eastern  border  next  the  hills  to  about  1,500  feet  at  the 
foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  It  has  the  finest  water-powers 
of  the  State,  which  are  slowly  being  utilized  for  manufacturing  and 
electrical  power  for  the  cities  around.  The  soil  is  naturally  good  and 
retains  the  improvement  that  is  easily  added  by  good  farming.  Its 
chief  lack  is  farmers — men  who  will  take  up  and  make  homes  and 
improve  the  surplus  lands,  which  as  yet  are  low  in  price,  but  rapidly 
advancing. 

THE    CENTRAL    SECTION. 

This  comprises  the  undulating  country  extending  from  the  hills 
that  mark  the  outline  of  the  piedmont  country  proper  to  the  falling- 
off  of  the  uplands  to  the  level  coastal  plain.  This  is  sometimes  called 
the  lower  piedmont.  In  general  character  of  soils  it  resembles  the 
true  piedmont  country,  but  the  soils  are  more  generally  sandy  and 
gravelly  over  the  red  clay,  though  in  many  sections  the  same  red  clay 
forms  the  surface  soil.  From  its  lesser  elevation  the  winter  climate 
is  slightly  warmer  than  that  of  the  upper  piedmont  section.  On  the 
southern  end  of  this  section  we  come  to  the  great  long-leaf  pine  belt, 
the  sand-hill  region,  which,  beginning  in  North  Carolina,  runs  south- 
west through  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louis- 
iana, and  into  Texas,  an  extended  region  of  sand-hills  supposed  to  be 
the  ancient  dunes  of  the  seacoast  when  the  lower  country  was  not 
elevated  above  the  Atlantic.  This  was  for  generations  regarded  only 
for  its  product  of  turpentine  and  tar,  and  later  for  its  lumber.  But 
of  late  years  it  has  grown  into  a  region  for  winter  resorts,  at  first  by 
consumptives,  who  found  the  balmy  air  and  dry  soil  favorable,  and 
many  of  whom,  finding  that  they  could  live  in  comfort  there  and 
could  not  do  so  in  the  North,  settled  permanently  and  built  up  the 
town  of  Southern  Pines.  Making  homes  there,  these  people  natu- 
rally wanted  to  grow  something.  The  deep  sandy  soil  had  always 
been  considered  too  barren  for  any  cultivation.  But  it  was  soon 
found  that  with  proper  .fertilization  the  soil  was  admirably  adapted 


CLIMATES.  31 

to  the  production  of  fine  grapes.  Later  on,  large  enterprises  were 
started  in  the  cultivation  of  peaches,  and  now  immense  vineyards 
and  orchards  are  found  in  various  sections,  and  their  number  is 
increasing,  as  the  cultivation  of  the  peach  especially  has  been  found 
profitable.  Later  on,  the  sand-hill  country  attracted  the  attention  of 
Mr.  Tufts  of  Boston,  who  assumed  that  the  mild  winter  climate  and 
the  pure  water  would  make  a  resort  for  people  who  were  simply  tired 
and  not  sick.  He  therefore  built  the  town  of  Pinehurst  in  the  midst 
of  thousands  of  acres  of  pines,  and  it  has  grown  into  a  very  popular 
winter  resort,  as  consumptives  are  excluded.  There  are  a  number  of 
hotels  of  different  sizes  and  prices,  and  many  cottages  that  are  rented, 
and  the  visitors  in  winter  now  number  thousands.  At  Pinehurst,  too, 
out  of  the  needs  of  the  winter  guests,  there  has  been  developed  the 
fact  that  winter  forcing  in  green-houses  under  glass  could  be  made  a 
very  profitable  part  of  the  horticulture  of  this  section.  The  surplus 
cucumbers  from  the  Pinehurst  forcing-houses  have  sold  during  the 
past  winter  in  Kaleigh  at  fifteen  cents  each.  With  our  abounding 
sunshine  in  winter,  the  forcing  of  vegetables  and  small  fruits  in  hot- 
houses can  be  made  far  more  profitable  than  in  the  North  because  of 
the  greater  sunshine  and  less  amount  of  coal  needed.  Every  gar- 
dener knows  that  sunshine  under  glass  counts  for  far  more  than  fire 
heat  and  costs  less.  In  fact,  the  beginning  made  in  frames  by  the 
gardeners  of  the  eastern  section  in  the  winter  culture  of  lettuce  is  but 
the  entering  wedge  that  will  introduce  regular  winter  forcing  in 
North  Carolina.  The  upper  part  of  the  central  section  has  for 
generations  been  mainly  devoted  -to  the  one  crop  of  cotton,  and,  as  a 
consequence  of  this  clean  and  constant  culture  and  shallow  plowing, 
the  hilly  lands  have  washed  badly  and  need  protection  by  terrace 
banks,  at  least  till  by  deeper  plowing  and  subsoiling  and  the  rotation 
of  crops  adapted  to  the  increase  of  humus  in  the  soil  the  inclination 
to  wash  is  lessened.  The  soil  is  naturally  easy  to  ^improve  and  to 
keep  up  if  proper  farming  is  done.  Cotton  and  tobacco  will  always, 
probably,  be  the  leading  money  crops  of  this  section,  though  on  some 
of  the  lighter  soils  the  cultivation  of  watermelons  for  shipping  is 
increasing.  Fruits  for  home  use  can  be  easily  grown,  but  the  condi- 
tions outside  the  sand-hill  country  are  not  favorable  to  commercial 
fruit  culture.  But  the  climate  favors  the  production  of  the  finest  for- 
age crops  in  the  form  of  cow-peas,  soy-beans,  and  alfalfa.  Alfalfa  has 
been  very  successful  in  this  section,  and  its  cultivation  is  rapidly  ex- 
tending. Few  cattle  have  been  kept  in  this  section  heretofore,  but  with 
the  increase  of  forage  crops  there  will  naturally  come  more  attention 
to  stock.  The  markets  in  the  towns  and  cities  are  not  well  supplied 
with  butter  of  fine  quality,  and  there  is  a  constant  demand  for  beef  in 
the  larger  towns,  a  part  of  which  has  to  be  supplied  from  abroad, 
though  as  good  beef  can  be  grown  here  as  anywhere,  with  the  proper 
attention.  The  winter  climate  is  peculiarly  mild  and  less  humid  than 
that  of  the  coast  plain.  Occasionally  the  temperature  in  cold  waves 


32  CLIMATES. 

falls  down  in  the  teens  above  zero,  but  the  mean  winter  temperature 
is  far  above  the  freezing  point  and  zero  is  unknown.  This  section 
was  originally  covered  with  a  vast  forest  of  oaks,  remnants  of  which 
are  still  found  here  and  there  in  giant  trees,  especially  in  the  capital 
city  of  Raleigh.  But  the  second  growth  following  the  destruction  of 
the  original  oak  forest  is  largely  of  pine,  which  has  been  Nature's 
cure  for  man's  waste.  All  the  section  north  of  the  sand-hills  is  well 
adapted  to  general  farming  with  grain  in  rotation  with  peas  and 
cotton,  and  with  good  farming  there  is  no  money  crop  in  the  United 
States  that  can  compare  in  profit  with  cotton.  Good  farmers  in  this 
section  can  make  a  bale  or  more  of  cotton  per  acre,  though  the  general 
average  is  much  less.  Northern  men  coming  South  are  too  apt  to 
want  to  ignore  the  cotton  crop,  thinking  that  the  deterioration  of  the 
soil  has  been  due  to  the  culture  of  cotton,  when  in  fact  there  is  no 
crop  that  makes  a  lighter  demand  on  the  soil  when  properly  culti- 
vated in  a  good  rotation,  and  none  that  admits  of  a  more  rapid  and 
profitable  improvement  of  the  soil  through  the  growing  of  legumes 
and  the  feeding  of  live-stock.  In  this  climate  the  expensive  barns  of 
the  North  are  not  needed  to  protect  cattle,  for  they  can  run  out  most 
of  the  time  and  find  pasture,  except  in  the  coldest  weather,  and 
then  open  sheds  furnish  all  that  is  needed.  As  has  already  been 
stated,  on  all  the  red-clay  soils  of  the  State  the  Lespedeza  striata, 
known  as  Japan  clover,  has  spread  and  furnishes  an  admirable 
summer  pasture  on  lands  otherwise  waste.  Mr.  French,  who  came 
and  settled  in  Rockingham  County  from  the  blue-grass  pastures 
of  Ohio,  and  has  gone  into  the  breeding  of  Polled  Angus  cattle 
with  great  success,  stated  recently  in  a  public  address  that  he 
found  that  the  Japan  clover  gave  him  a  better  pasture  than  the 
blue-grass  in  Ohio,  for  it  is  at  its  best  in  the  hot  weather  of  sum- 
mer when  the  blue-grass  is  parched  and  dried.  With  abundant 
summer  pasture  and  the  wonderful  forage  crops  that  can  be  grown 
for  hay  in  the  shape  of  cow-peas,  vetch,  and  soy-beans,  it  should  be  an 
easy  matter  to  raise  the  finest  of  cattle  in  all  the  upland  country  of 
North  Carolina.  County  after  county  in  the  piedmont  section  is 
being  cleared  of  the  fever  ticks  and  being  admitted  north  of  the 
National  quarantine  line,  and  as  this  is  done  the  raising  of  cattle  for 
the  Northern  trade  is  becoming  more  profitable.  For  general  grazing 
the  grassy  plateaus  of  the  northwestern  mountain  section  are  equal 
to  any  in  the  whole  country,  and  thousands  of  cattle  of  high  grade 
are  now  raised  there  and  sent  west  as  feeders,  the  great  elevation  of 
the  farms  there  precluding  the  profitable  cultivation  of  corn.  But 
in  all  the  southern  part  of  the  mountain  section  the  milder  climate 
admits  of  wonderfully  fine  crops  of  corn,  while  the  mountain  balds 
furnish  the  summer  pasture,  and  the  markets  southward  for  the 
finished  cattle  are  inexhaustible. 


CLIMATES.  33 

THE  COASTAL  PLAIN. 

This  section  extends  westward  from  the  seacoast  for  a  hundred  or 
more  miles.  It  is  a  level  and  generally  a  sandy  soil  elevated  but 
little  above  the  sea  and  blessed  with  a  winter  climate  of  peculiar 
mildness  from  the  proximity  of  the  gulf  stream,  whose  warm  waters 
skirt  the  coast  to  Hatteras.  In  this  section  are  found  the  great 
swamps  or  pocosons  extending  from  the  Great  Dismal  Swamp  on  the 
Virginia  line  to  the  southern  extremity  of  the  State.  In  this  section 
cotton  was  for  many  years  almost  the  sole  crop,  but  in  recent  years 
the  cultivation  of  tobacco  has  largely  extended.  But  the  greatest 
development,  as  we  have  seen,  is  in  the  great  market-gardening  indus- 
try that  has  sprung  up  and  is  rapidly  growing  both  in  the  culture  of 
vegetables  and  of  small  fruits,  especially  the  strawberry.  The  At- 
lantic Coast  Line  Railroad  runs  through  this  section,  and,  with  its 
branches,  furnishes  rapid  transportation  for  the  perishable  products 
of  the  gardens.  With  a  climate^that  is  below  the  freezing  point  in 
winter  only  occasionally,  the  work  of  the  farm  and  garden  can  be 
carried  on  continuously,  and  with  the  intensive  methods  we  have 
mentioned  the  winter  cropping  is  becoming  a  feature  of  great  impor- 
tance. Where  the  lands  adjacent  to  the  great  swamps  have  been 
drained  they  have  been  found  of  great  fertility.  In  Hyde  County 
many  years  ago  the  cutting  of  a  canal  from  Lake  Mattamuskeet  to 
the  Pamlico  Sound  opened  up  a  body  of  land  surpassing  in  fertility 
the  black  prairies  of  the  West,  and  all  over  this  section  there  are 
bodies  of  black  and  fertile  soil  underlaid  by  a  compact  clay  which 
makes  them  retentive  of  any  improvement  that  is  applied.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  development  in  the  market-gardening  line  there  has,  in 
this  section,  grown  up  an  allied  industry  which  is  unique  in  its  way 
and  found  nowhere  else  in  the  country.  This  is  the  cultivation  of 
flowering  bulbs  for  the  Northern  florists.  It  was  found  years  ago 
that  the  soil  and  climate  were  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  production  of 
the  tube-rose  bulbs.  These  are  grown  there  to  such  perfection  that  a 
limited  section  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line,  centering  at  the  town 
of  Magnolia,  now  supplies  all  the  tube-rose  bulbs  for  the  Northern 
and  European  markets.  Of  late  years  the  tube-rose  growers  have 
turned  their  attention  to  other  flowering  bulbs  and  tubers,  and  there 
is  a  large  acreage  now  devoted  to  the  gladiolus,  canna,  caladium 
esculentum,  dahlias,  narcissus,  and  Roman  hyacinth,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  lily  known  as  the  Bermuda  lily,  and  which  is  now 
imported  in  immense  quantities  from  Bermuda,  can  be  profitably 
produced  there.  Experiments  in  this  line  are  in  progress.  Bulbs 
are  also  being  produced  on  Roanoke  Island,  and  the  industry  is  ex- 
tending. The  level  character  of  the  soil  of  this  whole  section,  the 
absence  of  rocks  and  hills  and  the  generally  light  nature  of  the  soil 
render  cultivation  easy,  and,  while  there  are  poor  and  sandy  soils, 
the  general  character  of  the  soil  is  one  of  great  natural  fertility. 


34  CLIMATES. 

On  the  moist  black  lands  grass  grows  spontaneously  and  in  great 
variety,  and  on  the  heavily  manured  lands  of  the  trucking  section 
wonderful  volunteer  crops  of  hay  are  made  from  the  crab-grass  after 
an  early  crop  of  vegetables  has  been  shipped,  and  here,  too,  the  cow- 
pea,  "the  clover  of  the  South,"  flourishes  as  it  does  nowhere  else. 
Cattle  winter  without  any  care  at  all  in  the  great  swamps,  feeding 
on  the  evergreen  reeds  of  the  cane-brakes,  and  come  out  in  the 
spring  in  good  order  and  are  soon  ready  for  market.  Many  hundreds 
of  the  common  scrub  cattle  of  the  section  are  thus  pastured  in  winter, 
and  with  improved  cattle  and  the  abundant  forage  that  can  be  grown 
there  should  grow  up  an  export  trade  in  cattle  raised  right  near  the 
ports  from  which  they  are  shipped. 


CATTLE  AND  DAIRYING. 


There  is  a  gradual  improvement  in  cattle  in  all  parts  of  the  State. 
In  that  part  of  the  mountain  section  where  stock-grazing  has  long 
been  the  leading  interest  the  short-horn  blood  prevails,  and  most  of 
the  cattle  show  evidence  of  a  short-horn  cross.  In  the  neighborhood 
of  the  cities  there  is  an  increase  of  attention  to  the  dairy,  and  some 
are  making  great  success  with  it.  For  this  purpose  the  Jersey  and 
Guernsey  cattle  and  their  grades  are  used,  with  here  and  there  some 
Holstein  blood.  For  beef  cattle  in  the  piedmont  section  the  Polled 
Angus  cattle  are  taking  the  lead  and  have  been  found  well  adapted 
to  the  section.  But  there  is  great  room  for  more  Improved  stock 
and  more  improved  methods  of  stock-feeding  and  dairying.  Butter 
can  be  produced  here  more  cheaply  than  in  the  North  and  sells  for  a 
higher  price,  while  the  city  markets  are  as  yet  poorly  supplied  all 
over  the  South,  and  get  a  great  part  of  their  supplies  from  the  North 
and  West,  all  of  which  could  be  profitably  produced  here. 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  SCUPPERNONG  GRAPE. 


A  Fine  Wine  Grape  that  Promises  Much  as  an  Investment— Best 
Returns  for  Outlay  of  Any  Crop. 

The  Scuppernong  will  grow  and  produce  grapes  on  any  of  the 
sandy  lands  of  eastern  North  Carolina. 

Cuttings  may  be  secured  in  great  quantity  by  taking  any  Scupper- 
nong vine  and  letting  it  fall  on  the  ground  in  June  and  throwing  a 
few  shovelfuls  of  dirt  on  it  at  from  two  to-  three  feet  from  the  outer 
ends  of  the  limbs.  These  take  root  quickly  in  the  fresh  earth,  and 
can  be  taken  up  and  cut  off  any  time  from  November  1st  to  March 
1st,  and  set  out.  Care  should  be  used  in  selecting  thrifty  vines  with 
nice  grapes,  as  the  vine  reproduces  the  kind.  Seedlings  are  not 
worth  planting,  as  you  do  not  know  what  kind  of  grapes  they  will 
produce. 

The  land  should  be  laid  off  in  rows  twenty  feet  apart,  the  vines 
being  set  out  twenty  feet  apart  in  the  rows,  and  planted  true  and 
square.  A  good  post  standing  out  of  the  ground  not  less  than  seven 
feet  should  be  set  to  each  vine.  These  should  be  of  cedar,  oak,  or  light- 
wood,  as  the  setting  of  new  posts  cuts  the  roots  off  the  vines.  A  good 
cutting  will  reach  almost  to  the  top  of  the  post  in  one  year,  if  prop- 
erly cared  for.  The  best  method  is  to  wire  the  vines.  When  this  is 
done  rows  of  posts,  well  braced,  have  to  be  set  out  around  the  edge  of 
the  vineyard,  to  which  are  attached  the  larger  wires.  Down  each 
row  a  No.  10  galvanized  wire  is  run  as  a  governor  wire,  and  stapled 
to  the  top  of  each  post.  Across  these  governor  wires  you  stretch  at 
first  one  No.  14  wire.  If  well  braced  at  the  ends  this  gives  all  the 
posts  secure  bracing.  As  the  vines  grow  and  spread  out,  you  add  on 
each  side  of  the  No.  14  wire  other  wires,  always  keeping  good  arbors 
for  the  vines  to  run  on.  The  vine  should  not  be  allowed  to  bunch  up 
in  knots,  but  be  kept  spread  out  and  growing  uniformly  in  all  direc- 
tions. It  takes  108  vines  to  set  out  an  acre  properly  laid  off. 

The  land  should  be  cultivated  with  leguminous  crops,  and  the 
vines  kept  free  from  trash  around  the  roots,  which  grow  close  to  the 
top  of  the  ground.  Do  not  cultivate  under  the  branches,  as  the  roots 
extend  and  draw  sustenance  as  far  as  the  branches  run.  Hence,  if 
you  plow  close. to  the  vines,  you. tear  up  the  roots.  The  best  method 
we  know  is  to  keep  the  roots,  all  around  the  body  of  the  vine  and  as 
far  as  the  branches  extend,  mulched  with  a  heavy  coat  of  leaves  and 
straw.  The  home  of  the  vine  is  in  the  piney  woods,  where,  in  the 
rich  virgin  soil,  it  spreads  hundreds  of  feet.  The  best  vines  we  have 
ever  seen  were  in  old  garden  plots  where  they  were  never  plowed, 
but  the  weeds  kept  down.  A  good  plan  is,  perhaps,  to  have  sheep 
graze  under  the  vines ;  but  the  best  plan  is  to  keep  in  cultivation  the 


GRAPES  GROW  IN  PROFUSION  EVERYWHERE. 


THE  SCUPPERNONG  GRAPE.  37 

land  not  shaded,  and  to  keep  the  weeds  down  on  the  rest  by  having 
a  heavy  mulch.  While  the  vine  will  grow  and  produce  on  light  sandy 
land,  yet  it  should  not  be  expected  to  get  good  crops  from  poor  land. 
The  soil  should  be  well  fertilized,  as  for  peaches.  We  do  not  believe 
in  plowing  deeply  or  close  to  the  vines.  It  breaks  the  roots  and 
inevitably  damages  the  vines. 

As  to  gathering,  the  preferable  plan  is  to  gather  by  hand,  and  in 
small  vineyards  this  can  be  done.  But  in  a  large  vineyard  this  is  not 
practicable.  Poles  are  attached  to  strong  sheets  made  of  canvas, 
each  about  ten  feet  square,  and  with  leather  handles  and  a  man  to 
each  side  of  the  sheet,  it  is  easily  carried  around  between  the  posts, 
which  are  set  in  even  rows. .  Another  man  or  boy,  with  a  forked  stick, 
shakes  the  vine  gently  just  above  the  sheet,  and  the  ripe  grapes  fall 
and  are  caught.  Children  pick  up  the  few  grapes  which  fall  outside 
the  sheet.  The  vines  should  not  be  beaten  hard,  as  not  only  do  you 
thus  get  green  fruit,  but  damage  the  vines  by  breaking  the  tender  new 
growth,  which  produces  the  cropknext  year,  or  most  of  it.  The  leaves 
can  be  fanned  out  by  a  fan-mill  or  picked  out  by  hand ;  a  fan-mill  is 
best,  and  can  be  moved  along  as  you  go  over  the  vines.  The  vines 
should  be  gone  over  as  often  as  the  grapes  ripen,  as  you  cannot  gather 
all  the  grapes  at  one  time  without  getting  green  or  overripe  fruit, 
either  of  which  lowers  the  grade  of  grapes. 

A  word  as  to  profit.  An  acre  will,  at  three  years  old,  with  good 
care,  produce  about  one  ton  of  grapes.  At  four  years  old  it  should 
yield  from  three  to  four  tons  of  grapes ;  at  seven  years  from  planting 
the  acre  should  produce  from  eight  to  ten  tons  of  grapes  each  year, 
and  this  yield  should  continue  indefinitely,  or  rather  as  long  as  proper 
care  is  given  the  vineyard,  as  the  life  of  the  Scuppernong  is  more 
than  a  hundred  years. 

The  present  price  per  ton  of  grapes,  in  good  condition,  is  $25. 
These  find  sale  at  the  wineries  of  this  and  adjoining  States.  Were 
the  grapes  more  plentiful  the  price  would  be  less,  say  from  $15  to 
$18  a  ton.  This  will  give  some  idea  of  the  profit  to  the  grower,  and 
when  the  expenses  of  setting  an  acre  and  maintaining  it  in  bearing 
condition — a  total  failure  of  the  Scuppernong  crop  has  never  been 
recorded — are  considered,  no  crop  of  a*ny  kind  will  give  equal  returns. 

North  Carolina  has  in  the  coastal  region  many  thousands  of  acres 
which  would  produce  this  crop,  and  many  farmers  would  find  it  a 
safe  investment,  and  one  which  in  time  would  lessen  the  anxieties  of 
declining  years,  by  the  annual  sales  from  twenty  or  more  acres  in 
this  fine  wine  grape. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  THERMAL  BELTS. 


The  Great  Fruit  and  Vegetable  Zones !— High,  Dry,  Healthful  Region, 

More  than  forty  years  ago  Silas  McDowell  wrote  in  the  Agricul- 
tural volume  of  the  Patent  Office  Report  an  article  relating  his 
observations  in  Macon  County.  He  was  a  man  of  much  intelligence, 
and  had  been  in  youth  a  companion  of  John  Lyon,  the  English 
botanist,  exploring  with  him  the  Black,  Yellow,  Roan,  Grandfather, 
and  Linville  ranges,  and  caring  for  him  until  his  death  in  1814. 

Mr.  McDowell  was  also  a  companion  of  Curtis,  Buckley,  Rein- 
hardt,  and  Dow,  the  latter  of  whom  perished  among  the  mountains, 
and  his  remains  were  never  discovered.  Dr.  Gray  was  in  communi- 
cation with  him  more  than  forty  years  ago. 

He  wrote:  "When  I  commenced  business  it  was  as  a  farmer  in 
western  North  Carolina,  in  a  wild  valley  and  amid  lofty  mountains, 
and  for  nearly  fifty  years  my  house  was  an  open  free  home  to  the 
scientist,  particularly  the  geologist  and  botanist  (my  own  specialties). 
But  now  the  light  begins  to  burn  dim  in  the  binnacle,  and  is  nearly 
out."  He  died  in  1882,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  87.  Honor  to  his 
memory ! 

A  description  of  the  phenomena  observed  -by  him  is  given  in  his 
own  words:  "Amongst  the  valleys  of  the  southern  Alleghanies 
sometimes  winter  is  succeeded  by  warm  weather,  which,  continuing 
through  the  months  of  March  and  April,  brings  out  vegetation  rapidly 
and  clothes  the  forest  in  an  early  verdure. 

"This  pleasant  spring  weather  is  terminated  by  a  few  days'  rain, 
and  the  clearing  up  is  followed  by  cold  raking  winds  from  the  north- 
west, leaving  the  atmosphere  of  a  pure  indigo  tint,  through  which 
wink  bright  stars ;  but,  if  the  wind  subsides  at  night,  the  succeeding 
morning  shows  a  heavy  hoar-frost ;  vegetation  is  utterly  killed,  includ- 
ing all  manner  of  fruit  germs,  and  the  landscape  clothed  in  verdure 
the  day  before  now  looks  dark  and  dreary. 

"It  is  under  precisely  this  condition  of  things  that  the  beautiful 
phenomenon  of  the  'Verdant  Zone7  or  'Thermal  Belt'  exhibits  itself 
upon  our  mountainsides,  commencing  at  about  three  hundred  feet 
vertical  height  above  the  valleys,  and  traversing  them  in  a  perfectly 
horizontal  line  throughout  their  entire  length,  like  a  vast  green  ribbon 
upon  a  black  ground. 

"Its  breadth  is  four  hundred  feet  vertical  height,  and  from  that 
wider,  according  to  the  degree  of  the  angle  of  the  mountain  with  the 
plane  of  the  horizon.  Vegetation  of  all  kinds  within  the  limits  of 
this  zone  is  untouched  by  frost;  and  such  is  its  protective  influence 
that  the  Isabella,  the  most  tender  of  all  our  native  grapes,  has  not 


CAROLINA  THERMAL  BELTS.  39 

failed  to  produce  abundant  crops  in  twenty-six  consecutive  years ;  nor 
has  fruit  of  any  kind  ever  been  known  within  these  limits  to  be  frost- 
killed,  though  there  have  been  instances  where  it  has  been  so  from 
a  severe  freeze.  The  lines  are  sometimes  so  sharply  drawn  that  one- 
half  of  a  shrub  may  be  frost-killed  while  the  other  half  is  unaffected. 

"This  belt  varies  in  the  height  of  its  range  above  different  valleys. 
I  will  name  a  case  in  point.  I  made  my  observations  in  relation  to 
this  belt  in  Macon  County,  which  is  traversed  by  the  beautiful  valley 
of  the  Little  Tennessee  River  lying  2,000  feet  above  tidewater. 
Here,  when  the  thermometer  is  down  to  26°  the  frost  reaches  300 
feet  vertical  height.  A  small  river,  having  its  sources  in  a  high 
plateau  1,900  feet  above  this,  runs  down  into  this  valley,  breaking 
through  three  mountain  barriers,  and  consequently  making  three 
short  valleys,  including  the  plateau,  rising  one  above  the  other,  each 
of  which  has  its  own  vernal  zone,  traversing  the  hillsides  that  en- 
close them,  the  first  of  which  takes  a  much  lower  range  than  that 
of  the  lower  valley,  and  each  -taking  a  lower  as  the  valleys  mount 
higher  in  the  atmosphere,  and  in  the  highest  one  the  range  of  the 
belt  is  not  more  than  100  feet  above  the  common  level  of  the  plateau, 
a  beautiful  level  height  containing  6,000  acres  of  land  and  lying 
3,900  feet  above  tidewater. 

"The  country  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  Blue  Ridge  sinks  rapidly 
by  a  succession  of  long  sunny  slopes  reaching  down  into  the  plain 
or  level  country.  Along  these  slopes  the  air  is  pure  and  dry,  a 
refuge  for  the  consumptive,  as  diseases  of  the  lungs  have  never  yet 
been  known  to  originate  among  the  inhabitants  of  these  dry,  fogless 
mountains,  and  here  also  does  the  grape  find  a  most  salubrious  climate 
and  congenial  home." 

Another  similar  belt  is  found  along  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Tryon 
Mountain  range  in  Polk  County. 

Said  Dr.  L.  R.  McAboy  of  Linn,  in  this  county :  "The  belt  along 
Tryon  Mountain  is  some  eight  miles  long  and  extends  from  1,200 
feet  above  tidewater  to  2,200  feet,  thus  being  about  1,000  feet  in 
width.  This  begins  at  the  very  base  of  the  mountain,  and  extends 
up  till  you  have  attained  the  full  height  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  say  of 
Asheville,  Buncombe  County,  with  an  elevation  where  the  belt  is 
most  perfect,  of  about  1,500  fe^t. 

"The  observed  facts  of  temperature  are  truly  strange.  The  mer- 
cury falls  in  summer  and  rises  in  winter,  when  compared  with  either 
the  top  or  the  base  of  the  mountain,  so  much  so  that  travelers  on  the 
highway  through  the  belt  perceive  the  difference  without  the  aid 
of  a  thermometer.  This  difference  is  greater  at  night  than  during 
the  daytime,  being  5°  to  10°  on  the  summer  nights,  and  15°  to  20°  on 
winter  nights.  There  is  very  little  dew,  generally  none  perceptible, 
which  accounts  for  little  or  no  frost. 


40  NORTH  CAROLINA  THERMAL  BELTS. 

"The  flora  is  grand.  The  azalea  there,  instead  of  being  a  shrub 
four  feet  high,  attains  a  height  of  10  to  20  feet,  and  exhibits  every 
shade  of  pink  and  orange. 

aWe  are  in  latitude  35°,  but  for  all  practical  purposes  3°  south  of 
our  geographical  position.  The  leaves  of  plants,  shrubs,  and  flowers 
remain  untouched  by  frost  until  the  latter  part  of  December,  and 
sometimes  till  the  middle  of  January,  when  they  are  killed  by  snow 
or  sleet.  The  early  spring  in  the  belt  admits  of  planting  any  vegeta- 
bles the  first  of  February  without  risk  from  frost.  Tomatoes,  tobacco, 
and  other  tender  plants  remain  green  until  after  the  middle  of  De- 
cember. Fig  trees  live  through  the  winter  unprotected,  and  bear  full 
crops,  while  in  the  valley  they  are  killed  to  the  ground  every  winter. 
Grapes  never  mildew  nor  rot,  and  are  of  large  size  and  delicious 
flavor.  This  belt  is  confined  within  distinct  and  well-defined  limits, 
which  remain  the  same  from  year  to  year,  and  in  the  middle  stratum 
of  air  or  land  on  the  mountainside." 

Another  writer  says:  "After  a  snow-storm  not  a  particle  of  snow 
will  exist  in  the  belt  (it  melts  as  it  falls),  while  the  tops  and  sides  of 
the  mountains  above,  and  the  valleys  below,  will  be  covered.7' 

Prof.  John  Le  Conte  said :  "I  wish  to  put  on  record  the  results  of 
observations  made  by  me  many  years  ago  on  the  'frostless  zones7  of 
the  flanks  of  the  mountain  spurs  adjacent  to  the  valleys  in  the  Blue 
Ridge.  My  observations  were  made  at  Flat  Rock,  near  Henderson- 
ville,  Henderson  County,  a  well-watered,  fertile,  mountain  plateau- 
like  valley,  which  is  about  2,200  feet  above  the  sea-level. 

"My  own  observations,  and  the  information  elicited  from  resi- 
dents, seem  to  indicate  the  following  facts :  The  zones  in  question 
are  not  exempt  from  frost  during  the  whole  of  the  cold  season ;  in  fact, 
during  the  winter  the  ground  in  these  belts  is  frequently  frozen  to  a 
considerable  depth,  but  during  the  spring  months  they  are  conspicu- 
ously and  uniformly  frostless." 

It  seems,  then,  to  be  an  established  fact  that,  at  these  three  points, 
in  three  different  counties,  there  are  some  noteworthy  meteorological 
conditions  prevailing  along  this  belt  of  400  to  1,000  feet  of  perpendic- 
ular height,  and  it  seems  probable  that  a  similar  state  of  things  exists 
in  kind,  if  not  in  degree,  on  all  the  southern  and  eastern  slopes  of 
parallel  mountain  ranges  in  that  latitude  where  protected  against 
wind. 

Respecting  the  explanation  of  these  phenomena,  Mr.  McDowell 
theorizes  as  follows :  "Heat  is  ever  radiating  from  the  earth,  and  in 
cold,  clear,  still  nights  it  mounts  upward  through  the  cold,  damp 
air,  taking  from  it  its  caloric,  while  the  latter  rushes  down  in  a  cold, 
frost-producing  current,  and  hence  the  lowest  ground  in  a  valley  is 
ever  subject  to  the  hardest  frosts. 

"The  warm,  dry,  light  current  keeps  mounting  upward  like  cork  in 
the  water,  until  it  reaches  a  stratum  of  atmosphere  too  thin  and  light 
to  support  it,  when  it  consequently  falls  back  and  pours  its  warm,  dry, 


NORTH  CAROLINA  THERMAi/'J&J/fS/  V;  ?'/  \ \\  \  //41 

genial  stratum  upon  the  top  of  the  lower  or  frost  stratum ;  and  hence, 
on  cold,  frosty  nights,  is  produced  the  phenomenon  of  the  'Vernal 
Zone.7 ' 

Of  course  such  a  phenomenon  must  be  explained  in  general  upon 
the  theory  of  the  nocturnal  stratification  of  layers  of  the  atmosphere, 
having  different  amounts  of  moisture  and  caloric,  of  which  we  so 
often  see  examples  when  the  mist  settles  in  the  valleys  at  a  given 
level,  which,  if  the  temperature  be  sufficiently  low,  would  also  be 
the  frost  line,  or  when  often,  on  a  summer's  day,  from  a  mountain- 
top  the  white  cumuli  may  be  seen  stretching  away  in  long  lines  at  a 
well-defined  altitude.  But  in  these  cases  we  have  no  such  visible  and 
exact  demarcation  of  the  warmer  stratum  on  its  upper  side. 

Prof.  Le  Conte,  already  quoted,  says:  "The  'frostless  zones'  coin- 
cide with  the  nocturnal  and  morning  'fog-belts'  of  the  spring  months. 
The  uniform  pressure  of  these  white  circumscribed  belts  of  fog  on 
the  flanks  of  the  mountain  spurs  during  the  early  morning  hours 
imparts  a  striking  feature  to  *he  scenery  of  these  valleys.  When 
illuminated  by  the  bright  morning  sun  they  appear  like  girdles  of 
cotton-wool  of  moderate  width,  encircling  the  peaks  at  the  height  of 
200  or  300  feet  above  the  adjacent  valleys ;  and  their  cumulus-like 
whiteness,  contrasted  with  the  verdure  above  and  below  them,  is  no 
less  striking  than  it  is  beautiful." 

The  latter  circumstance  seems  to  furnish  an  explanation  of  the 
physical  cause  of  the  so-called  "Thermal  Belt" ;  for  the  constant 
fogs  at  night  and  in  the  morning  not  only  prevent  refrigeration  by 
obstructing  terrestrial  radiation,  but,  during  the  condensation  of 
vapor  in  the  process  of  fog-formation,  there  must  be  developed  an 
enormous  amount  of  heat  jus't  at  this  zone.  Why  this  condensation 
of  aqueous  vapor  should  be  so  persistently  restricted  to  a  belt  of  only  a 
few  hundred  feet  in  vertical  thickness  is  a  question  much  more  diffi- 
cult to  answer.  The  observations  of  intelligent  residents  of  the  moun- 
tain valleys  in  the  southern  divisions  of  the  Appalachian  chain  will 
doubtless  verify  or  disprove  the  general  coincidence  of  the  "frostless 
zone"  with  the  "fog-belt." 

This  piedmont  region,  not  merely  that  section  technically  so-called, 
but  the  zone  along  and  around  the  southern  Appalachians  having  an 
elevation  from  1,000  to  2,500  feet  above  sea-level,  possesses  attrac- 
tions as  regards  beauty  and  grandeur  of  scenery,  fertility  and  variety 
of  soil,  equability  and  salubrity  of  climate,  not  to  be  surpassed  in  the 
Union. 

If,  in  addition,  these  thermal  belts  exist  and  extend  generally 
among  those  ranges,  offering  exemption  from  certain  forms  of  dis- 
ease, with  exceptionally  favorable  facilities  for  fruit  culture,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  facts  should  be  more  generally  diffused. 

These  facts  point  out  this  region  as  the  best  place  to  be  found  for 
the  cultivation  of  celery,  cauliflower,  tomatoes,  and  other  vegetables 
for  canning;  raspberries  and  strawberries  for  shipment  and  preserv- 


42  j^TouiTH  CAROLINA  THERMAL  BELTS. 

ing;  for  peaches,  pears,  fine  apples,  cherries,  quinces,  and  currants; 
also  for  the  finer  table  and  wine  grapes.  All  of  these  are  known  to 
flourish  in  the  mountains  and  are  distinguished  for  crispness,  flavor, 
and  color.  Irish  potatoes,  pumpkins,  turnips,  beets,  parsnips,  car- 
rots and  the  like  also  grow  to  perfection. 


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